Phantom Stalkers: The Halifax Slasher and The Hammersmith Ghost

I was just telling Malena, it was really hard not telling the story for four episodes,

and now I have to tell the story, and I'm like nervous. Yeah, she said it's been hard, it's been really hard for me. Like, she doesn't understand. I don't. She just told that story for four weeks. I did, and like, I don't know what it feels like to not tell a story.

Yeah, that's, you don't, you don't know the hard part. I don't, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. What's up guys?

Oh man, it's this, this fucking mercury retrograde.

Mercury retrograde is kicking us in the ball sack, and I hear from the people who look at the comments that some of you are also feeling this mercury retrograde. Yeah, everybody is, I went to a witchy store today, and the girly there, she said this one sucks. She did say that. She said, it's actually said everything sucks right now. She did, she said, doesn't, the entire world suck right now.

I'm so bummed because I had to take a little break for my astrology class just because this summer,

“this summer has been so busy. Yeah, the summer can honestly go fuck itself.”

And wow, yeah, and I, like, I'm not even disagreeing, I was just flabbergasted by that. Oh, well, she, she put her whole pussy into that. Yeah, but, um, what was I even going to say? You shocked me, Mike, sorry, I shocked you. What are you doing? I'm, are you purchasing your villain? I think I started before a big red was ready, and I saw her, it was quietly pooping on her computer. Over there, I said, what are you doing? She said, I'm purchasing, I purchased

a good addition to my Halloween village. It's valid. I need it. I love that as you're doing that. You said, it's summer can go fuck itself. Yeah, that's summer can go fuck itself. I'm having my Halloween with it. As I'm buying a movie store for my Halloween village, I said, summer can go fuck itself. I feel like you're going to need one a new spot and another table for your house. I got my Halloween village's excuse yourself. It's crazy. But you know what, it's been rough. This

was when some stuff that keeps happening. Yeah, I'm rhyming. And one of my, one of my, one of my do-she's blanch is sick right now. Yeah. And it's just like me now. She's like six, six, she's in the animal hospital right now. So everybody's saying good work. I don't want to pour one out for blanchy, but she was. I said, I said, you know what I need? I need that video store for my Halloween village because that's going to make me happy. I got it. I like that. You're usually like,

fucks with summer. Like, not heavy, but I fucks with summer. I'm not really fucksing with summer this summer. It's too busy. It's too hot. I don't like, I fucking hate getting dressed in the summer. I can't even tell you how much I have a personal battle every single day. I'm like, what do I wear? Yeah, this summer can get so fucked. Yeah. Like,

“fuck you, summer. I think a lot of people feel that way. I feel like collectively”

me you and the listener. We won't fall. Yeah. Because this is bullshit. Let's hope that summer wraps it up pretty soon. Like wrap it up summer early August. It's a wrap. Yeah. I'm good. I am done ski. I am fully in Halloween mode, obviously, because I'm buying spooky things for my Halloween village. Oh, yeah. I'm done with this. Oh, that makes me wonder if I guarantee you Anthropology has their Halloween stuff out. Probably. Oh, I got to check out that place. I got

you got to check out. You know, those glasses that they have. Oh, the little, the little, like, like pumpkin glass. Yes, yes. And they have baths, like, freaking baths and stuff, freaking baths. Oh, Drew's gonna be like, gosh. Yeah. I'm gonna be like, I don't know how a Halloween palette delivered. Like, oh, about I'll do the same thing for Christmas. Hell yeah. And that's a little about us. Yeah. All right. So let's get into it. I have some,

I kind of put together, like, a little bit of a different episode, because I felt like we needed something. I don't want to say light, because this one still involves a moida. No, it's just hungry.

Would say less intense, I guess. Less intense. So my first one is probably something that we've

all heard of. And actually, we recorded with Erin Mickey yesterday, and he weirdly foreshadowed this. Yeah. We were like very entooned with each other. Yeah. He also foreshadowed something else I

“have on my list. I can't remember what it was. But I was like, wait, I literally just put that down.”

Yeah. It was a great episode. By the way, you're gonna love that episode. Oh, so it'll be a bonus episode.

Pick a Friday and July 31st. Yeah. There you go. Listen, Adam, we've got it. So let's, so we're going to start with the hammersmith ghost, which uh, which uh, Erin kind of, foreshadowed. And then we're going to talk a little bit about like mass hysteria and the, um, Halifax slasher. Ooh, have you heard of either of those? I have. Okay, cool. So let's get into it. The hammersmith ghost. And December 1803, while a lot of Europe was still focused on the

“Napoleonic war, I think it's called, the people of Hamasmith, which was a very small village”

on the outskirts of London. Hamasmith. I just want to go Hamatam. Hamatam? Well, they were preoccupied. Not with Hamatam. No. But with an invasion of a different kind, the villagers believed that something that, this thing that was terrorizing their village was a ghost. Obviously. And it was quote, covered in a white shroud confronting travelers and in some cases, physically attacking them. Yeah, a specter just punching you in the face. Yeah, just being a dick. Kind of. Mm-hmm. So the

hammersmith ghost, as the specter became known, was reported to have been seen primarily in the local church yard. But some reports also claimed they encountered it in the streets and the laneways around the church. I'm interested in the streets in these streets around the church. Uh, now according to the reports, the ghost appeared as soon as the church bell struck one I am, at which time the quote, specter seemed to flit along the fields adjacent to black lion lane.

Just let it flit. Let it flit. I've never flit. I've never flit. I've been one to stop someone

“when they're flitting. And let's flit. Yeah, live in that live. You should be flitting around.”

Yeah, it should be flitting around. As long as you two do not flit into each other, then let it happen. Maybe that's a meet queue when you flit into each other. Whoa. That also sounds like a euphemism. So it kind of does. It really does. Now, why it appeared white first appeared and what the fuck it wanted? It was a mystery. You know, you know, that's a mystery. I'm like, don't ask me because I'm not a mystery.

But many villagers believed it was the spirit of a villager who had taken his own life the previous year. Oh, by slitting his throat. Oh, and he had not been at peace in the graveyard they thought. And that's why he was flitting about terrorizing everyone. Now, like most legends, descriptions of the hammersmith ghost are pretty vague and varied. But most agreed the spirit was large white and menacing. America. That's exactly how I would describe America.

White and menacing. That's truly just like that's essentially our tagline. If we were real host swabs, I'm large. I'm white and I know that's saying. And this is my town. This is my country. This is my world. Give me out of here. In one case, the ghost attacked a wagon carrying 16 people through the village. What the fuck is this? The Oregon Trail? These are flitting anymore. Now, the team of eight not only attacked these 16 people, but also the team of eight horses

pulling the cart. Don't attack the horses. Yeah, that's fucked. I brought the line. Everybody has a line. You know, the appearance of the ghost on that night scared the coach driver so badly that he, quote, took to his heels and left the wagon and horses so precipitously that the whole were greatly endangered. Holy shit. So he just left him horses. He just left those horses. Fuck, they took on a heel. Yeah. A few nights later, an unnamed pregnant woman

was walking by the church yard around 10 p.m. When she saw what she described is a tall white figure

rise from the tombstones. Oh, you ain't never want to see that when you got so 10 p.m.

cemetery or any later cemetery. Yeah, if it's after 10 p.m. It's okay. No, no, not even that. Not at 10 p.m. No, not at 10 p.m. I'm not an 11 p.m. I don't want that. Even during the day, I don't really want to see that. Really, he thought a way for me. She tried to run, but the specter caught her by the arm and she fainted. Oh, hours later, she was discovered just laying in the road by some villagers who luckily carried her home and put her to bed. But a few days later, it was reported

that she died from fright. Oh, my God. It's not insane and very tragic. Yeah. So by the end of the year, the ghost had become such a menace that the villagers rallied to determine to do something about these attacks, which were becoming alarmingly frequent. So for several nights in a row, the men in the village sat out after midnight laying in wait and hoping to catch the ghost.

But it always seemed like the spirit was expecting them. And he was quote, "always sure of being

“on that path," which was unguarded. And also, I'm like, can we be so for real for a minute, guys?”

What are you going to do? Yeah, shoot a ghost. That's like, what are you going to do? Their plan was to shoot the ghost. Yeah, that's what we're going to shoot the ghost. Yeah, that's

don't really know. Yeah. What else are you going to just be like, you see them and you're like,

“stop that. Well, here's the thing. We didn't like which is back then. I'd contact the witch. Yeah.”

But you don't have that option when you just got about history of hangings. You fucked up that relationships. So that's the thing. That's why you don't burn ridges. Yeah, you can't call me now that you need me. No. Yeah. And Etsy wasn't a thing yet. So you're fucked. Wow. Now one night, just a few, just after the new year, one of the patrolling villagers claim to have seen the spirit down on one of the lanes and literally broke into a full blown sprint chasing after him. Whoa, which like baby

is a spirit. Yeah, probably go in the wall if it wants to. You can do it every once. It was during that pursuit though that the villager claim to have seen the supposed ghosts remove a sheet or large table cloth that was covering him in order to better make his escape. Mm. At which point I would say, do we think that this is a ghost or do we think this is a man? I was gonna say, you know, me, that seems a little weird. Like we are but men rock rock. Now the not so supernatural

“assailant managed to get away, but the incident was evidence of what many villagers in the”

village had come to expect. And this is why they were ready with guns. They said the hammer Smith ghost was no ghost at all, but a man in a crude costume. Oh, now this seemed obviously like the most rational and likely explanation. But there were a lot of super, super, superstitious. That's how to say villagers that rejected that theory. Choosing to believe that it wasn't a man put in fact a ghost. I mean, I like that better. More fun in my opinion. Yeah. But we had two

different camps here. So for two nights, the men of Hammer Smith who believed that this was actually a man armed themselves and patrol the village determined to catch whoever it was that was posing as the ghost and terrorizing everybody. I guess they're enthusiasm and determination made up for the fact that none of them were trained in tracking or capturing criminals. I also don't know where the local police were at this point in time. I was going to say maybe they did not that yet.

“They were off. It's like the very early 1800s on another life. But the fact remained that the”

village was on edge and everybody was a little jumpy for shadowy. So in the late hours of January

third, 1804, a local bricklayer, Thomas Millwood left his home and he headed to the home of a

friend where his wife had been working all day. She was like a domestic worker. Okay. That night, he was dressed in his typical work clothes, quote, "impacably laundered, white linen trousers, a white flannel, waistcoat, a white apron, and white shoes." Oh. Yeah. He was a tall man dressed in stark white clothing down to issues. His appearance was, I don't know if you picked up on this, remarkably similar to the descriptions of the Hammer Smith ghost. Sure was. In fact, twice in the

previous week, members of the village patrol had mistaken him from the spirit for the spirit and tried to capture him, luckily before shooting. After the second incident, his wife insisted that he start wearing a large dark coat when he was out. I was going to say don't wear white anymore. No. But that night, he must have forgotten it. So as he was walking down Black Lion Lane toward his destination to just, he was literally going to pick up his wife to walk her home

before he went to work. Oh, man. And as he was walking to do that, he was spotted by Francis Smith, a customs officer from the village. Smith had joined the Hammer Smith ghost patrol only a few days earlier and quickly became frustrated by the group's quote-unquote inability to catch the ghost. So he went out alone that evening determined to be a hero and put an end to all this. Oh boy. So lying in wait, Smith spotted Millwood coming down the lane and given his all-white

outfit immediately assumed that Millwood was the Hammer Smith ghost. Later during his trial, I'll tell you how this goes. Oh. Francis Smith told the judge, he stepped out of his hiding spot and loudly announced himself twice, both times demanding the figure stop. When Millwood apparently didn't heed Smith's demands are responded anyway. He said he became frightened and started to fire in Millwood's direction. Oh boy. One bullet struck Millwood

in the mouth and exited out the back of his neck. Oh, man. After the gun was fired and the figure dropped to the ground, Francis Smith ran toward the center of town to get the other members of the patrol. A few days later, a corners and quest was convened to determine the facts in the shooting,

and among the first to testify was Thomas Millwood's sister Anne, who was at the home of a friend

non-black line lane when the shooting took place. Oh, man. So she was like right there. Yeah. According to her, she was inside when she heard a voice out outside on the lane, shout, "Damn you, who are you? Stand. I'll sell shoot you." And then she heard a lot of being. Yeah. She ran to the door and stood on some bricks in order to get a better look. But by the time she was able to see out the window, Thomas Millwood her brother was already

and she had never known him to have masquerade it as the hammer smoke ghost. Yeah.

“Now, according to one witness, John Locke, who was Smith immediately reported the shooting,”

too. Francis Smith appeared to genuinely believe that he had shot the ghost when he went to go and get everybody. It was only when he returned to the scene and and inspected the body that the severity of the situation occurred to him. Yeah. Upon learning that it was Thomas Millwood, he had just shot and not the hammer smoke ghost. He became visibly upset and he insisted that he didn't need to kill anybody. According to Locke Smith claimed he had spoken twice, but received no answer

and the night was very dark. After he really said, it is. So after hearing the testimony from witnesses and reviewing all the evidence, the coroner concluded that regardless of whether or not he recognized his target, Francis Smith had willfully shot and killed Thomas Millwood. Yeah, he was trying to kill a ghost. He was, but he killed him on. Now, so the jury returned a verdict of willful murder, and that was what he would be tried for. Just one week later, Francis Smith's

trial began at the old Bailey. The old Bailey, we've seen that a few times. I know many times. Yeah. He was tried for the willful murder of Thomas Millwood. The testimony and evidence presented at trial was pretty similar to what was presented during the coroner's inquest, but there were some who wished to add to their previous testimony. Oh, excuse you. I know they said, but wait there's more. John Locke, for example, wanted to stress the fact that upon learning he had killed

Thomas, well, not Millwood. Francis Smith was deeply distraught, and he did want to turn himself into the authorities. And Locke said it was only on his own advice that Smith went home and waited until the next morning to speak to the constipal. Oh, damn. So I guess we found the police. Yeah, they, they are where they been. I don't know. Hey, guys, nice of you to arrive. Here they are now, but I was like, why would you tell a courtroom that you yourself were like, "Nah, don't report

“the murder." Yes. Sleep on it. He was like, "This is probably fine." Locke quah. That's how you know”

the time period because he's like, "This is fine." Yeah, nobody said a good night's sleep, but we didn't have a thing twice about it. Or the murder once you're arrested. Yeah, I told him to you know, sleep on it. Catch some sheep. Sleep on it. Catch some sheep. It's just going to say, catch some sheep. Catch some sheep. That's not how that works. You know? That's hard to say. Why not? Catch some sheep. Yeah. Catch some sheep, I don't know. All right, it's not like a drunk lady.

Truth. Locke also testified though that while most of the village had been alarmed about the supposed hammer Smith ghost, Francis Smith in particular had been more alarmed than most people. Smith's friend and neighbor, William Gerdler, who he had seen earlier that evening, games gave similar testimony, stressing that the night in question had been extremely dark, and Smith had been in a highly agitated state. Probably not a good time to take out a gun though.

“Definitely not. You know? Well, like nobody was thinking about that, but then you just”

not. You always had your gun. Always. Both men and several others, one of the jury to know

that Francis Smith was exceedingly mild in generous, and he was very much liked in the neighborhood. They could not see him acting maliciously on purpose. Okay. Now, as far as the matter of the ghost was concerned, the quote unquote ghost, few if any of the villagers thought Thomas Millwood was the perpetrator of the hammer Smith ghost talks. Like people who believed that it was somebody masquerading, they didn't think it was him. No, just going around trying to do this. No, according to testimony

provided by Anne Millwood, on the evening of his death, her brother had put on his work clothes, and like I said, gone to the black line lane to walk his wife home after her shift. Yeah. And then just going to go to work. She couldn't explain why her brother didn't stop when Smith demanded for him to, but she shared the jury that Thomas had not been drinking that evening. Like some rumors spreading bitch ass villagers had suggested. Wow. The rumor mill was alive

and well, even back then. Truly people, be people and gunna people. You chose to, sorry. They're gunna people. Glad you get crazy. You know why I got crazy with it because my brain was somewhere else. I was thinking about in Sabrina the teenage witch, the original one. When she gets, she has to do like witch community service and one of them is she has to work at the rumor mill. And she has to turn out rumors for mortals. Wow. That's like one of the earliest episodes.

Look at you. It is. You have such an interesting brain. Yeah. The way it works. The way that it can relate back to Sabrina or go more girls in a instant. It's true. I respect it. No other members of Thomas Millwood's family also testified telling the jury that Thomas already had to

run ends like I said with the local patrols because of his outfit. In the first instance,

he was dressed in his work clothes when one man shouted, "There goes the ghost." Thomas quickly replied, "I am no more ghost than yourself. Do you want to punchro the head?" And I respect that. I love that a lot. You want to punchro the head? He want to punchro the head.

absolutely. That's something he would say anytime. You want to punchro the head? Yeah.

True with it. Now after the second accusation that he was the ghost, like we said,

his wife suggested that he wear a heavy coat to avoid any more misidentifications, but he insisted there was little danger and he was kind of inconsistent in covering up his

“work clothes. He was like, "I don't really want to." If he's like this is stupid, you should know”

that I'm not the ghost. You should know I am but man. Yeah. Now after all the testimonies have been given, the judge asked whether Francis Smith had anything to say on his own behalf. At first, he declined saying that he wished to leave his defense to his lawyer. But this is wild. The judge reminded him that his lawyer was only allowed to interview witnesses, not speak on his clients behalf. Oh dang. So if he had anything he wanted to say, he would have to say it himself.

Oh, isn't that so interesting to see how that worked so differently? Yeah. So Smith thought for a moment

and then he addressed the court saying, when he went out from home, it was with very good intention

and intention of finding out the person who had alarmed the neighborhood by assuming a supernatural appearance and then he reiterated what he told the constable. When Thomas Millwood failed to respond after he called out twice, Smith became, quote, very much frightened and knew not what he did. Although he didn't deny that he fired the shots that killed Thomas Millwood, he insisted he did not do so with the intention of killing somebody and he did have a lot of remorse. Okay.

Which is just like, it's interesting to think of his headspace because that's a wild defense.

“Like if I heard that now, it'd be like, are you fucking kidding me?”

Yeah. But you think about like the panic of the time? Yeah. It makes sense for back then that they truly thought that a ghost was terrorizing their community. Yeah, like, and he was one of the people I think that did think it was a ghost. Yes, it sounds like it makes sense. Now after both sides rested their cases, the judge turned his attention to the jury.

The accused here reminded them was indicted for the murder of Thomas Millwood,

a crime that generally, though not always, required the prosecution to provide evidence of malice

propense. If the jury believed such a cause had been made, then they had a responsibility to find him guilty of murder. The judge did remind them, though, that they were allowed to take the accused state of mind into consideration as a mitigating factor, with regard to intent. He was wild and he was, you know, and the judge reminded the jury of that. He was crashing out. He'd have to take that into consideration. He's crashing out now. That's for sure.

Yeah. If the jury had found the defense argument that Smith shot himself to fence a compelling one,

“then they could acquit him of the charge. That's what they were told.”

That would have sucked. Yeah. Like, I don't think, I don't think he, like, truly meant to do what he did, like, for it all to shake out the way that it did? No. But he did kill someone. Exactly. So I think we need to take that into consideration. Yeah. We very much reckless. On paper, it was pretty simple. If Smith fired out of malice, that's murder. If he filed out of mortal fear, that self-defense. But the problem was, as far as the judge

and the jury could tell, his actions didn't really fall into either category. He really didn't. He himself testified that at no time to Thomas Millwood give any indication he was going to attack him. So he wasn't necessarily in self-defense. Yeah. And Thomas just simply failed to stop walking when Smith called out to him and he didn't have to stop walking. Well, that's the thing. No one has an obligation to stop walking when some stranger tells them to stop walking. No.

So that doesn't fit. There's nothing there. Yeah. So based on the evidence and the testimony, the jury returned with a verdict of manslaughter. Okay. A far less serious charge than murder, obviously. But unfortunately, the three justice panel could not accept the jury's decision. Oh, the evidence as far as they could see it did not support their lot. Support the lesser charge of manslaughter on the grounds of self-defense. Millwood wasn't doing anything that

warranted being shot like we just said. And as the justice is pointed out, even if he had been the hammer Smith ghost, the ghost crimes quote, "amounted only to misdemeanor of nuisance." That would not have attracted a capital punishment. That was the other thing. I was like, even if he really thought it was the ghost. The ghost has not really, like, fucked anyone up. Scaring people. He's just freaking people out. Yeah. That's not a crime. Yeah. Exactly.

Like, so you can't just go around shooting people because they freak people out and they're annoying. And they're annoying. Yeah. People would get shot. And they're walking the case. He told them to stop. Right. So taking all that into consideration, they were only left with one option. They really didn't have any other choice but to find Francis Smith guilty of murder. Yeah. And the wake of the verdict, he was sentenced to death by hanging. Oh, after which his body was to be

drawn and quartered. The 1800s. Holy shit. So like, that feels like a lot. That feels like a lot. You know, now the trial and the conviction quickly became a source of considerable publicity in nearby London. And remember, Gary Ridgeway is still sitting in prison and look what he did. And this guy did this and it's going to be hanged and drawn and quartered. I was going to say,

conviction, like I said, quickly became a source of considerable publicity in nearby London,

“as much for the supposed supernatural aspect of the story as the legal complications.”

Prosecution of a crime was typically a pretty straightforward endeavor back then. A person was either guilty or not guilty. And it was up to the crown's prosecutors to prove if they weren't. But the Smith case added this element of complication that they really hadn't ever seen before in British courts. And it raised several questions about the limits of self-defense in cases where somebody kills another person or causes their death. These questions would be some

of the most difficult challenges that the British legal system would have to grapple with for really more than a century. Now, the complexities of the case and the legal systems just inability to accommodate circumstances, like the one that we have here, was particularly maddening for the judge, Lord Chief Baron McDonald. I don't know why. That's just like a really funny name to me. Lord Chief Baron McDonald. It just reminds me of old McDonald's. I like that. But like Lord

McChief. Lord Chief. Lord McChief had a courtroom. Yeah, you did. So like many people in the courtroom, Lord McChief McDonald was sympathetic to the plight of the accused. But he was also bound by the law and couldn't ignore that it was his responsibility to apply the law as it was, rather than what he wanted it to be. After Smith sentencing, he did take the case to the king, though, who had the power to commute the sentence. And in the end, Francis Smith

was spared the death sentence and instead served one year of hard labor. Okay. Now, despite the unfortunate outcome for everybody involved, there was one silver lining. The death of Thomas Millwood and the conviction of Francis Smith caused the real hammer Smith ghost. A local shoemaker named John Graham, huh? Come forward and confess. Oh, damn. I confess. Excuse me. According to Graham, he dawned the white sheet and played the role of the hammer Smith ghost

to get back at his apprentices after they told his children scary ghost stories. That's actually really funny. Like it's without context. It's really funny. That's the thing without context. That is funny. It was like, ooh, but like a choice to do so. But like really costing everyone to wild out. Well, that's exactly that. When you saw everything starting to go

“willy-nilly. Yeah. Maybe you should have come out and like before the skits any crazier.”

Yeah, before these memories just shouldn't scare my apprentices. Like that's totally damn. So his confession should have put the legend of the hammer Smith ghost to rest. But the reports continued for more than a few decades. Damn. Yeah. I don't even just really into it. You don't want to let go of a ghost story. Listen, I don't either. I hate when ghost stories get disproved. No, I hate it. I usually they don't end in the murder of an innocent man. So no,

even worse, you know. So the hammer Smith ghost is a very solid example of mass like a genic illness, also known as mass hysteria. In the case of the hammer Smith ghost, the threat and the supposed supernatural danger might have been fake. The perpetrator was all too real. In the next case, though, we have a phantom stalker on the streets of England. Ooh. And it wasn't just the threat that was entirely fictional. But the perpetrator himself

actually never existed either. Wow. Yeah. We have some hysteria. We have some hysteria. Welcome.

“So the story of the hall of the hall of pleasure, Jack, or her. I think we've done him. The story”

of the Hall of Facts slasher. Say that three times fast. How fax slasher? How fax slasher? That's not fast. You took the longest fax slasher. How fax slasher? How fax slasher? How fax slasher? What about you? I'm going to punch you all the head. That is hard to say about how to think of the real. How far? I can't do higher fire. Higher fire. Higher fire. Higher fire. Higher fire. I'm going to put you own it. So it begins on the evening of November 16th, 1938. 21 year old Mary Gluthill was walking home

and claimed a man she'd never seen before, leaped out of the shadows and swung what looked to Mary to be like a small mallet. Oh fuck that. Yeah. I'm not trying to run into that at all. So Mary put up her arm to protect herself. Yeah. And when her attacker brought the hammer down, it struck her on the wrist breaking her skin. Oh shit. Yeah. Rather than raise the hammer for a

second blow though, the man just simply ran off. What a asshole. Weird. Yeah. That same

evening in another part of town, Gertrude Watts, a young woman from Ruperton, Ruperton, Ruperton, Rupertoni, Ruperton, Rupertoni, Ruperton. Very similar salt to the police. That's fucked up. Both

a very good look at him during the attack and they couldn't remember anything more than just

“generalities. Yeah. He said they were like, it's a man from the 1930s. He's a man. I know that.”

Got a mustache. Yep. And a mallet. And he hit me. Yep. The areas. But there is one thing that they all, they both remembered. And it was that the attacker had bright buckles on his shoes. They both said so. Okay. The attack seemed like too possibly related petty crimes, but being that they were relatively minor in terms of injury. Like it's sucked, but they didn't need surgery or anything. They didn't raise any alarm bells right away. Five days later, though, another report of an assault came into

the Halithx police. And it seemed like a pattern was taking shape. This time, 21-year-old Mary Setcliffe was walking home on Allerton Street. One of man stepped out from under a street lamp and

swung some sort of tool. Some claims report that it was a hammer while other say that it was a sharp

instrument. But he swung that tool in her direction. Instinctively, Mary threw her hand up to guard her face. And she, too, was struck on the wrist. And she sustained, sustained, she sustained. I mean, oh my god, put it in the outtakes. She's starting to mind, she's trying to tell. Like why do I just want to be a full-blown Irish lad? I'll say it on the berries and cream, guys. That lady told us we were beautiful Irish people, that just really leaned it.

You did. So Mary threw up her hand to guard her face, obviously. And she, too, was struck on the wrist, sustaining a minor injury in the process that actually did go on to require several stitches. Oh, fuck. Later that same evening, another young woman, Josephine Stevings reported that she had also been attacked in a similar manner. Everyone, watch your wrist. Yeah, hijerists, hijer phillanges.

It was announced. It was the announcement of the third attack that put the residents of

Halifax very much on it. Yeah. 10 years earlier in the winter of 1927, there was a series of attacks in Halifax, very similar to the ones that were being reported by these young women. That February, several women started reporting that they'd been attacked by a man wielding a razor. Oh, yeah. I remember reading about this. I hadn't heard of this before, but he just cut the fabric of their dresses. Yeah. One woman skin was grazed by the razor, but it seemed like the

attackers objective was just to destroy the clothing, not to harm the victims. A few days later, Halifax police arrested 26-year-old James Leonard, a married laborer who was living only temporarily in the city. And while transporting him to the holding cells, one of the officers witnessed him trying to get rid of something in his pocket. And when they searched him, they literally found him with the very razor blade. He was using to slash at the women on the street. They were really,

really out here doing a good job back then. It was tough. I thought that as they were bringing him to the holding cell, meaning they have already arrested him and you would think searched his

“person. They're like, "Oh, you have the weapon." And you should write here. Check you out. Yeah.”

That's good. Maybe we should just figure it out. Yeah. So upon hearing the charges against Leonard, the judge proclaimed the man's actions to be the violinist and meanest trick played against the woman of Halifax. And he sentenced them. He appreciates fashion. He does. It's the violinist meanest trick. He said, "That's actually so fucked up of you." Yeah. That's actually really fucked up. I actually appreciate how much he, he's trying to have this. He sentenced Leonard to one

year of hard labor, which when you think about the fact that Francis Smith was also sentenced to one year of hard labor. Yeah. And that this man who cut a couple dresses was sentenced to that, like that you really got to sit with that. We got to figure stuff out. Yeah, we should, we did eventually like a little bit for still working on it. We sure are. Imagine it played today. There was just a man going around cutting people's dresses. I mean, that's fucked up. It's scary and weird. I don't

like it. Yeah. What was the motive to be a dick? I guess so. To be violin mean. Yeah. Well, the new attacks in 1938 brought the previous wave of terror to the front of everybody's minds and made residents wondered, had James Leonard come back? Oh my goodness. Or worse, with somebody copying his attacks, but with more malicious intentions, actually wanting to hurt people this time. Concern grew greater when on November 24th, Clay Aspen all caretaker of the local Sunday school,

reported that he was leaving the school that afternoon when he was set upon by a man matching the description of Mary Sutcliffe's attacker, which again was vague. Yeah. The man was carrying some sort of metal tool and swung it toward the caretaker who instinctively threw up his arms to protect his face. Think goodness what they all did that. Everybody's got cat-like recesses. Rocksy like a puma. Do

“you remember that? That's from Drake and Josh. Rocksy like a puma. I'm surprised I never made”

you that was out of my time. Yeah, it was. Well, in doing so and being like a puma. He managed to spare himself. All that scratch on the forehead and the man just ran across the lawn of the school, jumped a fence and disappeared into the woods. Agile. Like what is he getting out of this?

that the man was about 35 foot nine in height. Here in Klein to be ginger. Stoops a little,

“wearing a fawn raincoat. I like it describing in us his hair was inclined to be ginger. Like”

it wanted to be. It had aspirations to be ginger. Like it was working hard towards the goal of being ginger. It's like good for it. It's a good blonde trying to achieve strength. They're trying, you know. I love that a lot. They're a part of the attack on clay Aspenhal set off panic around Hall of Axe because also now a man has been attached. Yeah. No one's saying. Now we're really

up to where you know women are always getting attacked. So far, he used to that. Right? But then

now we're like wait a second. Yeah, we're not. We have to do something. We got to fix this. Like god. Yeah. No, whether it was Joseph Leonard who would come back to play more mean tricks or someone else. Obviously, there was a maniac on the loose of the streets of the town and he wasn't content with just slashing the fabric of Lady Stresses. He wanted to do real harm. He was swinging Malice. He wanted to injure your wrists. Yeah. Now the police and Halifax mobilized and hopes of

catching the attacker. Oh, talk about what the evidence was scarce. I said it correctly. Do you hear that dub dub? As I always say scars and I have forever and Debbie and Elena were like that's not how you say it's true. It's true. It's not. I know it's not. And I wanted to continue to say scars, but now I can't because you've ruined it for me. I'm sure some people will back you, so don't worry.

“I don't think they will. It's just simply not. It's just not the way you say it. It's I think it's nicer.”

Scars. Yeah. I see. I don't like it's harsh. Well, yeah, it sounds like harsh. Scarsity is pretty harsh. Scars. It's a more airy. It is airy. You know, you just like trying to make scarcity better. Yeah. All right. Okay. evidence with scarce, scarce, scarce. And witnesses were limited to the victims alone. So in announcing the attack in aspirin all, they also announced a 10 pound reward for any information that led to the arrest. But literally all that did was

trigger an endless stream of dead and leads. Of course it did. By November 26, more reports of attacks began coming in. There was Alex McDonald who are Alex, excuse me, McDonald. Who was attacked in Asheville Gardens. They're not mine by a man with a razor who wore shoes with bright metal buckles. Oh, the buckles. He could be the one. Later that night, Percy Wattington was attacked from behind on lower edge road by a man with a razor who cut Percy's hand in the struggle. Fuck

that. A short time later, Mrs. Annie Cannon was attacked on Thackeray Street about a mile from the center of Halifax. Not to be confused with Thackeray banks. Not to be confused. I according to

Annie, she just been walking home when an unknown Assyllian. I always have trouble saying not

word to Assyllian. Assyllant. Yeah. I like to add a Y to it. And I'm going to continue to allow you to do this. The Assyllian jumped out of the dark and struck at her with a partially concealed weapon slashing her jumper. Not her jumper. So it's like, okay, so first he wanted to injure your wrists and he was doing that and then he escalated to slashing jumpers and dresses fucked up. In the days that followed more attacks were reported and public anxiety continued to grow.

Yeah. I'd be shining myself. Yeah, now there was nearly a dozen reports of attacks and the public was on the brick of hysteria. When does this end? Well, the local police reported that they reported their theory that the quote slashing is the work not of a maniac, but of some persons or person, reveling in the publicity and public hysteria they were creating. Isn't that kind of a maniac though? Yes. I don't think like a same person is excited to be causing a ton of

“public. Oh, cry. Yeah. Like, I feel like you have to be a little bit of a maniac to get a lot of”

emotion to be like acutely. City, one hurting people intentionally. Yeah. And two causing people to

freak out and be worried. I think the police basically were like, it's not a maniac just shut up and

calm down. Yeah, they were like, don't worry about it. It's just just some silly goose who thinks it's really fun that everybody's getting upset. Yeah. That doesn't make it better. And they were basically were like, listen, they're enjoying that you're acting so crazy, so calma. Colma, I want we all want a little whimsy in our lives who are we to stop this person. This is their version of whimsy. Okay. So I'm just chill. So everybody just chill out. Just eat a moon pie,

quit murder, quit slash would be cool. Quick and upset that you're being slashed. They didn't have moon pies back then. So maybe that's why they were so pissed off. That was the problem. I'd be pissed off. That was a problem. Well, who invented moon pies? Look at that. I'm back in the episode. Yeah. Now one Halifax police officer want a step further though, and told her a reporter. I should think there are about three persons committing these offenses. Which wouldn't make me feel better.

Oh, no, I feel outnumbered. I love these things. They're like calm down. And then they're like, sexually fucking three of us. And they're like calm the fuck down. It's just a group of people doing this.

and/or slasherers. Reports of attacks from nearby towns then started to roll in. Or at the same time, victims and Halifax continued reporting their own interactions with the slasher or slasherers. On the night of November 27, Lily Woodhead was attacked by a man in an alley who jumped a large wall and fled the scene immediately after striking her. And then there was Beatrice Soral, a 19-year-old, who's attack resulted in several stitches. Oh, she said, I was passing a dark yard when suddenly,

I saw an arm come out and felt a blow. I hate that a lot. I do, too. I also hate that they needed stitches. Now, the growing number of attacks prompted the local authorities to mobilize

groups of local boy scouts. They're always using the boys out. Isn't it weird that like these

“vastly different cases have that in common? Yeah. Yeah, you're Richard. What's this fucking name?”

Gary Richway. Gary Richway. Why is Colin Richway? Richway. I'm giving it to you. Thank you. Oh, yeah. They used boy scouts to go look for remains. Yeah. And then they just are sending out boy scouts to stop like a full, a raving maniac or slicing at people. Yeah, I'm like, what if they slice up the boy scouts? Well, they escalate. Yeah. So they sent them out to keep watch and the local police officers started interviewing any men who were deemed suspicious, which probably was a lot of

men back then, probably. If I had to interview any man that I deemed suspicious, it would be a busy day. Yeah. The biggest problem, of course, was that investigators had few details beyond the very vague descriptions of the slasher's height and the shoes that he wore. And the few suspects that they did have didn't match any of those details. Some victims said he was ordinary or handsome. Others said

“told police his teeth were rotten and that he had a horrible grin. Oh, by the end of November,”

the attacks had increased and spread outside of Halifax. And we're now being reported in surrounding towns, as well. On November 28, 18 year old Winifred Walsh was walking in Lancashire, when she was grabbed by the arm by a man who dragged her into a backyard and inflicted a five inch slash on her arm before just releasing her and running away. Winnie Walsh, Winnie Walsh, fucked up a five inch. Yeah, that's big. The spreads of the attack only increased public panic,

obviously. One reporter wrote movies and churches are shy of patronage, shops close at dusk, one employer instructed women employees not to leave their home until called for by a truck.

I've never been called for by a truck. I just picture tomato. How wide everyone's door is.

You're like, I'm here. It's me, towwriter. I'm here to bring it all up. You're being called for.

“Like, what? Like, what does that mean? Call, I guess like they said called for by a truck. I don't”

know. You stay in your home until the truck calls you. I'm like, okay, let's be in the truck. I guess they said like, I don't know. Maybe there was like a lot of people in the trucks and they were like, hey, we're here to pick you up for work. Or maybe it was tomato, who might say. We just brought it back for it. Sorry, but the number of attacks now reaching 20 local police reached out to the detectives of Scotland yard. Oh, get them on the case. We got Scotland yard on the case. They sent one of

their investigators to aid in the Scotland yard. It was like this sounds dull. What are we going to send? They said this is Tom Follary. You can have one of our men. They said, you know what,

everyone's staying in their house until the truck calls you. That's not what we're basically

fuck off. Yeah. This was not sufficient for the town's folk who left her nearly two weeks of ongoing attacks decided to take the lawn to their own hands. I don't know for the slasher. I don't either. They're upset. You're only happening in their little bubble. Yeah. And you're only getting one Scotland yard guy. Yeah. Over the course of two days, more than five thousand locals to the streets with one Scotland yard detectives. One guy on a mustache literally was like, "You're am."

They were searching for this lasher. Well, most were law-abiding and sincerely did want to increase public safety. Many had given into their fears and were acting very recklessly because people don't people. Of course. By the end of the month, the press was reporting that quote, "A few young men had been badly knocked about by crowds and mistake for the slasher or nor, or nor, they punched them with a head." Many other men had similar less violent interactions

with the mobs who chased them down the streets and inside their house. Yeah until it struck all them. Yeah, I see. I love, I love that. By November 30th, the attacks had started to slow presumably due to the presence of the Scotland yard detectives. The single Scotland yard detectives had taken the presence of the British Legion members who would come out of acts to escort women on their errands. Oh, that's the reason. For the first time in weeks,

the public started to wonder, "Maybe he had the slasher been frightened away for good." They thought

a handful of reports of supposedly recent attacks did come into the police. But the police declined

“to file their reports saying that the attacks had not been substantiated to their satisfaction.”

Without the constant threat of a new slashing victim or roving mobs to deal with,

investigators on the trail of the Halifax slasher, were finally able to take a step back

and evaluate the case objectively for the first time. Although the initial reports made by Mary Gledhill, Gertrude Watts and Mary Sutcliffe had been substantiated and were deemed legitimate, the other reports were far less reliable and kind of just unbelievable. Among the more challenging aspects of the case was the distance between the locations where the attacks were reported. In one instance, police in Lancashire might have received a report of a slashing at 6.10 p.m.,

and then the police in Halifax, many miles away, would also get a report just a few minutes later, and it would have been impossible for one man or really even free to get across town. So quickly, yeah, with or without a car. Of course, it was possible that the attacks could have been committed by several men, like I said. Yeah. But given the depraved personality required to commit these acts, it did seem kind of unlikely. It is. It's not. In my opinion, it's not that. Unlikely,

like men are nuts. Well, and now we've seen so many cases where like two people get together and like the Hellside Strangler's, you know, like, honest, tool and Henry Lee Lucas, hung out for a label in the globe. Yeah, like we see like couples who get together and do this shit.

“Yeah. So there it is, possibility that there's several fucked up individuals. I think it's just weird”

because even in those cases, like they were working together. Yeah. In this case, they'd just be like, let's split up and go hit people. That's the same thing. Like, I'm just feeling to see the real reason for this. Yeah. I don't get them. Yeah. I'm all would be, so they're not getting anything. Like, they're not stealing money unless they're like coming back together and being like, how many risted you hit to that? Yeah. That's the thing. Are they like meeting back up at the end of the night and being like,

were they doing tough any one on the wrist? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. But then there was the near total lack of evidence witnesses and sometimes injuries. If somebody was being attacked by a razor, you would expect them to have some injury to their hands or arms, even like defensive wounds. Yeah. So with the benefit, like I said, of objectivity, it was beginning to look to the halifax investigators, like the hysteria surrounding the mysterious and terrifying halifax slasher might just be that.

“Damn hysteria. And a statement to the press on December 2nd, halifax chief constable told reporters,”

no one was charged with any offense concerning the present situation. And there never was,

nor was there likely to be any real danger to the general public. Wow. By the end of the day, investigators were speaking in more certain terms. Detective Sergeant Harry Studdard of the Scotland Yard told the press. Certainly 15 persons did actually receive slashes. But the police are now satisfied that no one who has been termed the slasher was concerned. So he was like, yeah, people did get cuts, but there was not a slasher. Weird, right? Oh, look at those statements seem to be

conflicting, biting each other a little bit. You'll see. You'll see. Okay. But it seems that by exposing the halifax slasher is nothing more than a myth perpetuated by public hysteria and wild imaginations, investigators and halifax in those that Scotland Yard took away the power that the

story had over the public. By the end of the first week of December, there were no new verified

slashing attacks. Interesting. And those that were reported were deemed tokses. In one case, a teenage girl in halifax was arrested for providing a false report. After she was found to have tied herself up and torn her clothing in order to create the impression that she had been a victim of the slasher. Whoa. But decades later, when he was asked about the halifax slasher, medical sociologist and professional skeptic, Dr. Robert Balthal Bartholomeal concluded,

"Most of the supposed sightings amounted to a figment of the panicked public's imagination, with most of those who had been wounded eventually admitting to having self-inflicted the injuries due to nerves or to make boyfriends feel guilty after an argument." Whoa, rough. Damn rough. Effective. Whoa. Like, you really did it. You made everybody feel bad. If you don't did it. Oh, you did it. Detectives just scored in you to do your thing. Yeah. You brought one single detective from

Scotland. Your heart didn't say it. It doesn't seem like they're willing to give muscle. That's the one deal. Throughout the first weeks of December, after the hysteria died down several young people started confessing to their friends, parents, or even the authorities that they either faked the attacks for attention or faked the attacks to get themselves out of trouble. That's actually so sad. It is sad. Like, that's wildly sad. Yeah, I think I'm very similar to

But in the end, their hoaxes backfired. Many of those who orchestrated slasher hoaxes were brought up

“on charges of mischief and had modest obviously for their contributions, not just to public anxieties,”

but also to the economic harm done by the curfews, the fear, the one, the Scotland yard

detective resources. Put a lot of resources here. But that was that. It was never real to begin with.

That was it. Damn. Yeah. Those are really interesting cases. I'm just kidding. It's a bunch of people believing something that is unbelievable for us to think about. And also just getting so reckless

“out in both stories. Group think is a hell of a thing. It sure is. Yeah. So do you have a fun”

fact for us that makes us feel better about group think? I do. The moon pie was invented in 1917

by Earl Mitchell. He was a traveling salesman for the Chattanooga bakery in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They could have had a moon pie. So they actually could have had a moon pie and quit slashing people and they should have had it. Or pretend and to be slashed. Yeah. We were out here saying that's the

“problem. They didn't have a moon pie. They did have a moon pie. Wow. Maybe they were, maybe they were”

only in Tennessee. I was just going to say we're in, we're here, they're there. While we

back them was they're like crazy shouldn't moon pie's that Europe said no thank you to you. Maybe they were like you were like you were like you're like you're like you're like there's like 45 ingredients on this that like we will really not allow a moon pie's for life. I wonder if you can get a moon pie in Europe. Let us know. Yeah. Europeans. Let us know if you can get a moon pie period. Yeah. All right. Well guys this one was just like a fun Lucy goosey one to be silly. Yeah.

Really after 10's. Dark and rough. Yeah. I got to get Gary out of my head. Yeah. Gary's got to go. So not being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you start slashing yourself. So like get out of work or something. No create public hysteria. Absolutely not. Ashlinging the slashlinging. Ashlinging slashers. She has no idea what I was just talking about. Yeah, we didn't tell it's SpongeBob. Oh yeah. Yes. See I know.

[Music] [Music] [Music]