Sherlock Holmes of handwriting speaks at university
?According to national handwriting expert Michelle Dresbold, it is possible to tell whether someone is lying, their personality or even how dangerous a person is through their handwriting.
Known as “the Sherlock Holmes of handwriting,” Dresbold explained to CSI campers recently at the Goodwin Performing Arts Center on Waynesburg University’s campus how she has assisted law enforcement agencies around the country in putting away criminals during the past 10 years.
Through handwriting identification, Dresbold is able to match suspects to anonymous letters and suspected forgeries. She has helped solve cases of arson, embezzlement, voter fraud, forgery, stalking and murder.
Dresbold says that every mark a person makes on a page come subconsciously from the brain.
“When you write, you are making a choice with every mark you put on the page,” said Dresbold.
Dresbold said that a person who tends to have larger handwriting is more outgoing, whereas a person who has smaller handwriting may be more shy or focused. A person who writes with their letters really close together is more uptight, and depression may be revealed in someone if their handwriting tends to slump downward. Someone who is very expressive and talks with their hands also tends to have larger handwriting, she said.
“The person who excels is the one who uses all of their senses to observe what is going on around them,” said Dresbold.
Dresbold once freed a man named Omar from prison who supposedly committed murder. Written in French, the victim presumably used her own blood to write the words “Omar killed me” on the door.
After reading the message, Dresbold concluded that there was no way the victim had written the message herself because the message was neatly written above the doorknob, too high for a dying person to have enough energy to reach, said Dresbold.
“A person cannot write clearly when they are sick or hurt,” she said.
Dresbold can also tell when a person is lying through clues in their handwriting. She says that she looks for clues such as the size of the spaces in between words, the way a sentence may slope upward or downward and any size changes in the text.
Dresbold is the author of “Sex, Lies, and Handwriting,” and also maintains a news column called “The Handwriting Doctor.” She has been featured on the CBS early show, the Today Show, the Fox Morning Show with Mike and Juliette, Fox News, the O’ Reiley Factor and Court TV.
Graduating from the University of Michigan with high honors and a degree in both psychology and fine arts, Dresbold is also an accomplished artist who has her work featured in galleries across the country.