Phantom Stalkers: The Halifax Slasher and The Hammersmith Ghost

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash and I'm Alina and this is morbid. I was just telling Alina. 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, you don't know the hard part. I don't. 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 actually said everything sucks right now. She said 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. She put her whole pussy into that. Yeah, but was I even going to say you shocked me in my court? Sorry, I shocked you. What are you doing? Are you purchasing your village? I think I started before Big Red was ready and I saw her is quietly booping on her computer over there. I said, what are you doing? She said, I'm purchasing, I'm purchasing an addition to my Halloween village. It's it's valid. I need it. I love that. As you were doing that, you said summer can go fuck itself. Yeah, that's it. Summer can go fuck itself. I'm adding to my Halloween. 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 because your house. It's crazy. But you know what? It's been rough. There's been some stuff that keeps happening. Yeah, I'm rhyming and one of my one of my doucheys blanch is sick right now. Yeah, and she's like me out. She's like sick, sick. She's in the animal hospital right now. So everybody said good. Everyone poor went out for blanch. But she would 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 get it. I like usually like fucks with summer. Like not heavy, but I fucks with summer. I'm not really fucksing with summer this summer. No, it's too busy. It's too hot. I don't like it. 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 want 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 from 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. Right. Probably. Oh, I got to check out that place. I got you got to check out those glasses that they have. Oh, the little head, the little like like pumpkin glasses. Yes, yes, and they have bass, like fucking bats and stuff, freaking bats. Oh, Drew's gonna be like, ash. Yeah. And I'm gonna be like, he's gonna be on a Halloween palette delivered. Uh-oh, but 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 moiter. No, it's just a Henry would say less intense. I guess less intense. So my first one is probably something that we've all heard of. And actually, we've recorded with Aaron Manky yesterday and he weirdly foreshadowed this. Yes. We were like very in tune with each other. Yeah. He also foreshadowed something else I have on my list. I can't remember what it was. Mm-hmm. 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. Yeah. I think it'll come out like some Friday and July. There's only some Friday. Pick a Friday and July 31st. Yeah. Listen to it. He's got it. So let's, so we're going to talk about the Hammersmith Ghost, which uh, which uh, Aaron 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. The Hammersmith Ghost. In December 1803, while a lot of Europe was still focused on the Napoleonic War, I think it's called the people of Hammersmith, which was a very small village on the outskirts of London. Hammersmith? Hammersmith? I just want to go hammer time. Hammer time. Well, they were preoccupied not with hammer time. 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 punch in you in the face. Yeah, just being a dick kind of. 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 in the streets in the streets around the church. Now, according to the reports, the ghost appeared as soon as the church bell struck 1am. At which time, the quote, specter seemed to flit along the fields adjacent to Black Lion Lane. Just let it flit. Let it flit. Let it flit. I've never been one to stop someone when they're flitting. Let it flit. Yeah, live and let live. Let it flit. You should be flitting around. It should be flitting around. As long as you two do not flit into each other, then what happened? Maybe that's a meet-cute when you flit into each other. Whoa. That also sounds like euphemism. It kind of does. It really does. Now, why it appeared, why it first appeared, and what the fuck it wanted? It was a mystery. That's the whole point. That's a mystery. I'm like, don't ask me because I don't know. I don't know. But many villagers believed it was the spirit of a villager who had taken his own life the previous year by slitting his throat, 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 essentially our tagline. If we were real housewives, I'm large, I'm white, and I'm menacing. And this is my town. And this is my country. This is my world. Get 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? He's not 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 draw the line. Yeah, 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, left those horses fucked up. He 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 as a tall white figure rise from the tombstones. Oh, you ain't never want to see that when you pass 10 p.m. Cemetery or any later cemetery. Yeah, if it's after 10 p.m. it's okay. No, not even that. Not at 10 p.m. No, not at 10 p.m. Not at 11 p.m. Don't even during the day. I don't really want to see that. I really keep that away from 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 determined 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 What are you gonna do? Yeah, shoot a ghost. That's like, what are you gonna do? Their plan was to shoot. the ghost. Yeah, that's let's be real. Like we're going to shoot the ghost. Yeah, that's what they want to do. All right, give it a shot. I don't know what else you do, I guess. That's the thing. I don't really know. Yeah. What else are you gonna 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 when you just got a bad history of hanging. You fucked up that relationship. So as a thing, that's why you don't burn bridges. 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 claimed to have seen the spirit down on one of the lanes and literally broken to a full blown sprint chasing after him. Whoa, which like baby is a spirit. Yeah, probably go in the wall if it wants to do whatever it wants. It was during that pursuit, though, that the villager claimed to have seen the supposed ghosts remove a sheet or large tablecloth that was covering him in order to better make his escape. Hmm. At which point I would say, do we think that this is a ghost? Or do we think this is a man? I was going to 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 hammersmith ghost was no ghost at all, but a man and a crude costume. Oh, now this seemed obviously like the most rational and likely explanation. Yes, but there were a lot of super still super superstitious. That's hard to say. Villagers that rejected that theory, choosing to believe that it wasn't a man, but in fact, a ghost. I mean, I like that better. More fun in my opinion. Yeah, but we had we had two different camps here. So for two nights, the men of hammersmith who believed that this was actually a man armed themselves and patroled the village determined to catch whoever it was that was posing as the ghost and terrorizing everybody. I guess their 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 didn't have that yet. They were off. Like the very early 1800s on yeah, on other life. But the factor made that the village was on edge and everybody was a little jumpy. Hmm, foreshadowing. Uh oh. So in the late hours of January 3rd, 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, impeccably laundered white linen trousers, a white flannel waist coast, waistcoat, tallow, a white apron, and white shoes. Oh, yeah. He was a tall man dressed in stark white clothing down to his shoes. So his appearance was, um, I don't know if you picked up on this. We're remarkably similar to the descriptions of the hammersmith 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 hammersmith ghost patrol only a few days earlier and quickly became frustrated by the groups, 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. So lying in wait, Smith spotted Millwood coming down the lane and given his all-white outfit immediately assumed that Millwood was the hammersmith ghost. Of course. Later, during his trial, I'll tell you how this goes. Uh-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 or respond in any way, 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 up for the patrol. A few days later, a coroner's inquest was convened to determine the facts and the shooting. And among the first to testify was Thomas Millwood's sister Anne, who was at the home of a friend non-black lion 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 outside on the lane shout, "Damn you, who are you? Stand. I'll sell shoot you." Oh, no. And then she heard a loud bang. 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 on the ground. Haven't seen him just hours earlier. She swore that he was sober on this evening, and she had never known him to have masqueraded as the Hammersmouth Ghost. Yeah. Now, according to one witness, John Locke, who was Smith immediately reported the shooting to. 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 Hammersmouth 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 it's really sad. 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 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 constable. Oh, damn. So I guess we found the police. Yeah, there they are. Where they been. I don't know. Hey, guys, nice for 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 don't report the murder? Yeah. Sleep on it. He was like, this is probably fine. Locke Qua. That's how you know the time period because he's like, this is fine. Yeah, nobody say goodnight sleep. I was going to think twice about that. Report the murder once you're rested. Yeah, I told him just, yeah, sleep on it. Catch some sheep. Sleep on it. I feel just going to say catch some sheep. Catch some sheep. That's not how that works. That's hard to say. Catch some sheep. Yeah. Catch some sheep. I tell you. Sorry, it sounded 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 Gurdler, who he had seen earlier that evening, 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. But like nobody was thinking about that. You always had your gun. Always. Both men and several others wanted the jury to know that Francis Smith was exceedingly mild and 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 hoax. 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 Ann 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. It was just going to go to work. She couldn't explain why her brother didn't stop when Smith demanded for him to, but she assured the jury that Thomas had not been drinking that evening. Like some rumor spreading bitch ass villagers had suggested. Wow. The rumor mill was alive and well even back then. Truly people. Be people and gun of people. You changed it. Also, sorry, they're going to people. Why'd 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, which the original one. When she gets, she has to do like which community service. And one of them is she has to work at the rumor mill. And she has to turn her 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 Gilmore girls in a instant. It's true. I respect it. Now, their members of Thomas Millwood's family also testified telling the jury that Thomas already had two run-ins 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 ghosts than yourself. Do you want a punch or the head. And I respect that. I love that a lot. You want to punch the head? I don't. Sounds like something happened. Me? I don't. Sounds like something Papa would say in traffic. Yeah, absolutely. That's something he would say anytime. Yeah, truly. 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. Because 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 testimony had 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 client's 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, an 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 it. Like, it's interesting to think of his headspace because that's a wild defense. Like if I heard that now, I'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. And he was one of the people I think that did think it was because it sounds like it makes sense. Now, after both sides rested their cases, the judge turned his attention to the jury. The accused, he 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 propants. 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, he was wild and he was, you know, and the judge reminded the jury of that. He was crashing out. You 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 in self-defense a compelling one, then they could have quit him up 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's 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 did Thomas Millwood give any indication he was going to attack him. So he wasn't necessary in mortal danger 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 fix 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 this jury's decision. Oh. The evidence as far as they could see it did not support their love, 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. Yeah, people get shot. And they're walking. And you tell 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 in quartered. I was going to say we got, we gave Gary a pleading. A little off balance here. Yeah. Now. So the trial and the 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 crowns 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 and 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. This particularly maddening for the judge, Lord chief Baron Macdonald. I don't know why that's just like a really funny name to me. Lord chief Baron Macdonald. It just reminds me of old Macdonald. I like that. But like Lord Mac chief. Lord chief. I was going to say. Lord Mac chief. Court room. Yeah. You did. So like many people in the courtroom, Lord Mac chief Macdonald 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 to come forward and confessed. Oh damn. It confesses. 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. I was like, ooh, but my choice to do so. But like really cause everyone to wild out. Well, that's the thing for dad. When you saw everything starting to go willy nilly. Yeah. Maybe you should have come out and been like, before this gets any crazier. Yeah, before these members. I'm just trying to scare my apprentices. Exactly. 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. Everybody's 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. [music] So the hammer Smith ghost is a very solid example of mass psychogenic 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. But 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. Welcome. So the story of the Halifax, the story of the Halifax slasher, say that three times fast. Halifax slasher. Halifax slasher. Halifax slasher. Halifax slasher. Halifax slasher. I'm going to punch you. I'm going to punch you in the head. That is hard to say, though. It had to think of three. Halifax and Karshar. I can't do higher fire. [laughter] Karshar. Karshar. Karshar. [laughter] I'm going to punch you. Hold it. Hold it. [laughter] So it begins on the evening of November 16th, 1938. 21-year-old Mary Glendale 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. No way. 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 Ripperton. Ripperton. Ripperoni reported a very similar assault to the police. That's fucked up. Both women provided pretty vague descriptions of the man who would hit them with a mallet. Neither got a very good look at him during the attack and they couldn't remember anything more than just generalities. Yeah, 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 end is. 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 sucked, but they didn't need surgery or anything. Yeah. They didn't raise any alarm bells right away. Five days later, though, another report of an assault came into the Halifax police and it seems like a pattern was taking shape. This time, 21-year-old Mary Sutcliffe was walking home on Allerton street. When a man stepped out from under a street lamp and swung some sort of tool, some claims report that it was a hammer while others say that it was a sharp instrument. But he swung that tool in her direction instinctively, Mary threw her hand up to Gertrude's face and she too was struck on the wrist and she sustained a sustained. She sustained a man. Oh my god. Oh my god. Put it in the outtakes. She's starting to mine. Why do I just want to be a full Irish lad today? Damn. I feel like the berries and cream guy. That lady told us we were beautiful Irish people and I just really leaned in. He did. So Mary threw up her hand to Gertrude's 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 watched your wrists. Yeah. Hide your wrists. Hide your philanges. 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's skin was graced by the razor, but it seemed like the attacker's 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 out the women on the street. They were really really out here doing a good job back then. It was tough. I mean, 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 check yourself. You should right here. Check you out, Heather. That's good. Maybe we should. That's great. So upon hearing the charges against Leonard, the judge proclaimed the man's actions to be the violinist and meaness trick played against the woman of Halifax. And he sentenced them. He appreciates fashion. He does. It's the violinist meaness trick. He said, that's actually so fucked up of you. Yeah, that's actually really fucked up. I actually appreciate how much he is. He's kind of 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, 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, a little bit, but we're still working on it. I sure are. Imagine it. Like today, there was just a man going around cutting people's dresses. I mean, that's fucked up. It is 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. Concerned grew greater when on November 24th, Clay Aspinall, 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 responses. Roxy like a puma. Do you remember that? That's from Drake and Josh. Roxy like a puma. I'm surprised I never made you watch that. That was out of my time. Yeah, I was. Well, in doing so and being like a puma, he managed to spare himself all that is scratched on the forehead, and the man just ran across the lawn of the school, jumped offence and disappeared into the woods. Agile. What is he getting out of this? Malice. Yeah, I guess. I suppose. Loves a mean trick. Yeah. So in making the report, Aspen Hall reported that the man was about 35-foot-9 in height, Heron climbed to be ginger, stooped a little, wearing a fawn raincoat. I like describing it as 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 like a blonde trying to achieve strawberry blonde itself. They're trying, you know. The report of the attack on Clay Aspen all set off panic around Halifax, because also now a man has been attacked. So now we know what to say. And now we really have to worry, you know? Yeah, women are always getting attacked. So if we're just used to that. Right. But then now we're like, wait a second. Yeah, we are not going to do something. We got to fix this. My 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's dresses. He wanted to do real harm. Swing and mallets. He wanted to injure your wrist. Yeah. Now the police and Halifax mobilized in hopes of catching the attacker. It's about time. But the evidence was scarce. I said it correctly. Did you hear that, Deb, Deb? As I always say, scars. And I have forever. And Debbie and Alina were like, that's not how you say it. It's true. And it's, it's not. I know it's not. And I wanted to continue to say scars. But now I can't because you ruined it for me. I'm sure some people will back use it or not. I don't think they will. It's just, it's simply not. It's just not the way you say it. It's, I think it's nicer scars. Yeah. I say, I don't like it's harsh. Well, yeah, it sounds like harsh. Scarcity is pretty harsh. Scarce. It's more airy. It is airy. Feel to it, you know, you just like trying to make scarcity better. Yeah. All right. Okay. Evidence was scarce, scarce, scarce, scarce. And witnesses were limited to the victims alone. So in announcing the attack in Aspenall, 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 end leads. Of course it did. By November 26, more reports of attacks began coming in. There was Alex McDonald who are Alice, 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 Waddington 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. According to Annie, she'd just been walking home when an unknown assailant. I always have trouble saying that word to a salient. A salient. Yeah. I like to add a Y to it. And I'm going to continue to. Oh, you do. The assailant 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. And the days that followed more attacks were reported. And public anxiety continued to grow. I'd be stressed. I'd be shitting myself. Yeah. Now there was nearly a dozen reports of attacks. And the public was on the brink 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. Like, I don't, I don't think like a sane person is excited to be causing a ton of public outcry. Yeah. Like, I feel like you have to be a little bit of a maniac to be. Like, at least one hurting people intentionally. Yep. 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, it's 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 calm. Like, you know what? We all want a little whimsy in our lives. Yeah. Where are we to stop this person? That's the thing. This is their version of whimsy. Okay. So just chill. So everybody just chill out. Just eat a moon pie. Quit murdered. Quit slash and be cold. 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 wasn't problem. Who invented MoonPie's looked at a fun fact at the episode? Now, one Halifax police officer went a step further though and told a reporter, "I should think there are about three persons committing these offenses, which wouldn't make me feel better." Oh, now I feel outnumbered. I love the taste of it. Because they're calm down and then they're like, it's actually fucking three of them. And they're like, calm the fuck down. It's just a group of people doing this, okay? Oh, awesome. So it's many maniacs. As the police attempted to hunt down the slasher and/or slasers, reports of attacks from nearby towns then started to roll in. Or no. At the same time, victims and Halifax continued reporting their own interactions with the slasher or slasers. On the night of November 27th, 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 Sorrell, a 19-year-old, whose 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 boy scouts. Is it weird that like these vastly different cases have that in common? Yeah. You're Richard. What's his fucking name? Gary Ridgway. Why did I just call him Richard? Ridgway. I guess maybe that's why I'm giving it to you. Thank you. Yeah, they use boy scouts to go look for remains. Yeah. And then they just send an out boy scouts to stalk like a full, a raving maniac. Or slicing at people. Yeah, I'm like, what if they slice up the boy scouts? Please, please. So if they escalate. Yeah. So they sent them out to keep botched and the local police officer 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 28th, 18-year-old Winiford 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. That's fucked up. Five-inch, yes. That's big. The spreads of the attack only increase public panic, obviously. One reporter wrote, "Movies and churches are shy of patronage, shops close at dusk, one employer instructed women and employees not to leave their home until called for by a truck." I've never been called for by a truck. It's good. I just picture a towmater outside every one's door. It's like, "I'm here. It's me, towmater. I'm here to bring you to work." You're being called for. Like, what? What does that mean? I guess 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, hold me in the truck." I guess they said, "I don't know. Maybe there was 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 towmater who might have said, "We just brought him back for it." Sorry, I mean this. But with 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 hunt. Scotland Yard was like, "This sounds dull." They said, "This is Tom Foulery. You can have one of our men." They said, "You know what? Everyone stay in their house until the truck calls you that." That's how we'll basically fuck off, yeah. This was not sufficient for the town's folk who, after nearly two weeks of ongoing attacks, decided to take the lawn to their own hands and hunt for the flasher. 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 5,000 locals tore out to the streets with one Scotland Yard detective. One guy in a mustache literally was like, "Here I am." They were searching for the slasher. While most were law-abiding and sincerely did want to increase public safety, many had given it to their fears and were acting very recklessly. Because people, we want 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 all the head. Many other men had similar, less violent interactions with the mobs who just, you know, chased them down the streets and inside of their house. Yeah, until a truck called them. Yeah, exactly. I loved that. By November 30th, the attacks started to slow, presumably due to the presence of the Scotland Yard detective. The single Scotland Yard in the presence of the British Legion members. Who had come to Halifax to escort women on their errands. Oh, that's the reason. For the first time in weeks, the public started to wonder. Maybe had the slasher been frightened away for good. They thought that in the Gary Ridge way case. They did. Why does that? But that was real. Yeah. By December 1st. 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. Oh. 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. Uh-oh. Although the initial reports made by Mary Gladhill, 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, uh, police and Lancashire might have might receive a report of a slashing at six 10 p.m. And then the police and 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. Wither 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. Yeah. In my opinion, it's not that unlikely, like men or nuts. Well, and now we've seen so many cases where like two people get together and like the hillside stranglers, you know, like, oddest tool and Henry Lee Lucas. Mm-hmm. Or go for a little while. Like a pulled and lobe. Yeah, like we see like couples who get together and do this shit. Yeah. So there it is that 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 thing, like, I'm just failing to see the real reason for this. Yeah. I don't get the M.O. would be certain. They're not getting anything. Like they're not stealing money. Unless they're like coming back together and being like, how many risks did you hit today? Yeah, that's the thing. Are they like meeting back up at the end of the night and being like, were they doing police? Did you drop anyone on the wrist tonight? 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 hysteria. In 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 Stutter 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. Huh. Weird, right? Those statements seem to be conflicting. Fighting each other a little bit. You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. 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 and those at Scotland Yard took away the power that the story had over the public. And 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. Well, decades later, when he was asked about the Halifax slasher, medical sociologist and professional skeptic Dr. Robert Balthal, Bartholomeal concluded, quote, "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, you really did it. You made everybody feel bad after that. You done did it. Detectives just squirting you to do your show. - Yeah. - You brought one single detective from Scotland. You are, didn't you? - Hey, it doesn't seem like they're willing to give much. So that's a big 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 it's very similar to so much trials. - I think life is fucking boring back then. - Sure. - And to create your own shit. - Yep. - But in the end, their hoax is backfired. Many of those who orchestrated slasher hoaxes were brought up on charges of mischief and admonished, 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 detected. - Yeah. - Resources. - Put a lot of resources here. - But that was that. - It was never real to begin with. - That was it? - Yeah. - Damn. - Yeah. - Those are really interesting cases. - Aren't they? - Just 'cause it's a bunch of people believing something that is unbelievable for us to think of. - And also just getting so reckless 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 Pi 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 Pi. - So they actually could have had a Moon Pi. - And quit slashing people. - And they should have had a Moon Pi. - Or pretending to be slashed. - Yeah. - We were out here saying that's the problem. They didn't have Moon Pi's. They did have Moon Pi's. - Wow. - Maybe they were only in Tennessee. - I was just gonna say we're here, they're there. - While we were back then, was there like crazy shit in Moon Pi's that Europe said no thank you to you? - Maybe. - Europe was like, you guys are crazy. - There's like 45 ingredients on this that we will literally not allow. - Moon Pi's for life. - I wonder if you can get a Moon Pi in Europe. Let us know. - Yeah. - Europeans. - Let us know if you can get a Moon Pi. - Period. - Yeah. - All right. Well guys, this one was just like a fun Lucy Goosey one to be silly after you're, - Yeah. - Really. - After tense, dark and rough. - Yeah, I gotta get Gary out of my head. - Yeah, Gary's gotta go. - So in that being said, we hope you keep listening. - And we hope you. - We keep it weird. - But not so weird that you start slashing yourself to like get out of work or something. - Nope. - Create public hysteria. - Absolutely not. - A hash-linging. A slash-linging. A hash-linging slasher. (laughs) - She has no idea what I was just talking about. Maybe I won't even tell it. - It's SpongeBob. - Oh! - Yes, yeah. - See how I know. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)