How The Halifax Slasher Terrorized A Community With Violence But Actually Never Existed
Residents of an English community were repeadtly attached by a brutal criminal, but it turned out he wasn’t real
Few things are as terrifying when a community realizes that they are being brutalized by a relentless criminal. When violence is involved, that only increases the fear and anxiety. For two weeks in 1938, a British city suffered ongoing vicious attacks on its residents by someone they named the Halifax Slasher, only to discover that he never actually existed.
In November, 1938, the tranquility of Halifax, England was shattered by a wave of fear and paranoia sparked by a series of savage attacks. The alleged perpetrator of the incidents, which predominantly targeted women, was dubbed the Halifax Slasher. He was vividly described by witnesses to the Daily Mirror:
“Flat, boxer-like face… Few teeth. Wearing a dirty-coloured raincoat and a grey trilby… Moving in stockinged feet… Black teeth… Wears no hat… Has piercing eyes.”
The hysteria began when Mary Gledhill and Gertrude Watts reported being violently assaulted by a man with bright buckles on his shoes, who was wielding a mallet. Subsequent accounts of attacks, usually involving a razor or…
