词条 | Halifax Slasher |
释义 |
The Halifax Slasher was the supposed attacker in an incident of mass hysteria that occurred in the town of Halifax, England, in November 1938 following a series of reported attacks on local people, mostly women. The hysteria spread elsewhere and was partly blamed on a previous slashing event in the 1920s. BackgroundThe week-long scare began after Mary Gledhill and Gertrude Watts claimed to have been attacked by a mysterious man with a mallet and "bright buckles" on his shoes.[1] Five days later, Mary Sutcliffe reported an attack on herself. Reports of attacks by a 'mysterious man' with a knife or a razor continued, and the nickname "the Halifax Slasher" stuck.{{sfn|Evans & Bartholomew|2009|pp=239-240}} The situation became so serious that Scotland Yard was called in to assist the Halifax police.[2] Vigilante groups were set up on the streets, and several people, mistakenly assumed to have been the attacker, were beaten up; business in the town was all but shut down. Rewards for the capture of the attacker were promised; reports came of more attacks in nearby cities.[1] The panic spread so much that vigilante gangs were roaming the streets of the town and after Hilda Lodge was 'attacked', Clifford Edwards, a local man who had gone to help, was later accused of being the slasher himself. Soon a mob had gathered and after they had started to chant for his death, police had to escort him home.[3] In the evening of 29 November, Percy Waddington, who had reported an attack, admitted that he had inflicted the damage upon himself.{{sfn|Evans & Bartholomew|2009|p=241}} Others soon made similar admissions, and the Scotland Yard investigation concluded there were no "Slasher" attacks. Five local people were subsequently charged with public mischief offences and four were sent to prison.[1] On 2 December, the Halifax Courier ran this story:
Halifax had suffered from slasher attacks before, when in 1927, James Leonard was convicted of stalking and slashing the clothes of six women in the town. He was given a six-month sentence, however, he was quickly ruled out of the 1938 attacks on account of his large nose, which none of the 1938 victims had described.{{sfn|Evans & Bartholomew|2009|p=241}} Timeline of purported attacks
See also
References1. ^1 2 3 {{cite web|url=http://www.calderdale-online.org/html/community/life3.html|title=The Halifax Slasher: Man or Myth?|work=calderdale-online.org}} 2. ^1 {{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20070501.shtml|title=BBC - Radio 4 Making History|publisher=BBC}} 3. ^{{cite news|last1=Glover|first1=David|title=Terror reign of Halifax ‘Slasher’|url=http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/terror-reign-of-halifax-slasher-1-5607760|accessdate=18 May 2017|work=The Halifax Courier|date=24 April 2013|language=en}} Bibliography
External links
5 : 1938 crimes|Mass hysteria|Halifax, West Yorkshire|1938 in England|Nonexistent people |
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