Phantom Slashers: From Out of the Shadows

In November 1938, northern England was the scene of reports of a mysterious villain attacking mostly young women as they walked the streets at night. He would leap out on lone pedestrians, slash them with a razor then disappear into the darkness. Vigilantes patrolled the streets and some innocent men bore the brunt of their fury. Soon attacks were reported in other parts of the country. The panic reached such heights that Scotland Yard was called in. One by one, as the early incidents that drove the panic were uncovered as hoaxes, authorities eventually concluded that the entire saga was without substance. The panic was driven by anxieties surrounding night safety and knife crime. During the 1950s, similar panics involving imaginary slashers occurred in Montreal, Canada, and Taipei, Taiwan.