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The Phantom Barber Of Pascagoula

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History is peppered with strange accounts of phantom attackers. These mystery assailants attack, stir up a massive panic, and then disappear as mysteriously as they come.

Many, like the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack, are clearly more fiction than fact, but now and then an outbreak of strange behavior is rooted in genuine criminal activity. The panic surrounding the London Monster, for example, likely grew out of legitimate attacks on women in 18th century London streets.
A phantom attacker similar to the London Monster stalked the streets of Pascagoula, Mississippi during World War II, preying on women and girls. His particular perversion involved cutting hair, leading locals to dub him The Phantom Barber of Pascagoula.

A mysterious assailant

The year was 1942. America was at war. As her men and boys went off to fight in foreign fields, her towns geared themselves up to produce the material the troops would need to win the war. The small town of Pascagoula was no exception.
Indeed, the war was a boom time for the town–its population increased by 15,000 in just two years. Pascagoula was involved in the manufacture of war ships, a crucial industry for a nation involved in a war on two oceans.
However, the influx of so many people into what was once such a small town lead to tensions. It was the perfect recipe for a panic, what with the social upheaval and the specter of warfare hanging overhead. Soon enough, there was indeed a panic, one that seems similar in many ways to the Mad Gasser of Mattoon episode, which has become a textbook case of mass hysteria.
The attacks began in early June 1942, when the Phantom Barber cut the hair of Mary Evelyn Briggs and Edna Marie Hydel in their bedroom at the convent of Our Lady of Victories. By the end of that week, three people received unwanted hair cuts at the shears of the Phantom Barber. None saw their attacker.
Mary Evelyn Briggs and her sister Laura
Mary Evelyn Briggs and her sister Laura
The town was understandably in a panic. It got to the point where the Army even modified its blackout regulations (blackouts were procedures to defend against air raids) in order to help police hunt the Barber. The Phantom Barber primarily struck on Monday and Friday evenings, and entered through a slit in window screens.

The Phantom Barber strikes again

A week after the first attack, the Phantom Barber struck the home of David G. Peattie, shearing his daughter Carol’s hair. The parents found a bare footprint near the window.
The following Friday, the attacks became violent: the Phantom allegedly entered the house of Mr. and Mrs. ST Heidelberg, and proceeded to beat them with an iron bar. The final attack happened on a Sunday, two weeks later.
The Phantom clipped a two inch lock of hair from the head of Mrs. RR Taylor. Mrs. Taylor reported a sickening smell and something being pressed to her face, which authorities assumed to be a chloroform rag. All told, about ten homes were broken into during the Phantom Barber’s reign of terror.
In August, the police apprehended a suspect that they concluded was the Phantom Barber. His name was William Dolan, a 57-year-old German chemist with reported German sympathies and a grudge against the Heidelbergs.

Mr. Heidelberg’s father was a local judge who had refused to lower Dolan’s bail on a trespassing charge several months before. Dolan was charged with the attempted murder of the Heidelbergs, but curiously he was never charged with one of the Phantom Barber attacks, despite the FBI finding a bundle of human hair behind his house, some of which belonged to Carol Peattrie, who you will remember was the Barber’s fourth victim. Dolan denied being the Phantom Barber.
He received ten years for the attempted murder charge. After his arrest, the Phantom Barber attacks ceased.
It isn’t clear whether Dolan really was the Barber though. His attack was uncharacteristically violent compared to the Barber’s attacks.
It could be argued that the Barber attacks were practice runs leading up to the assault on the Heidelberg’s, but if that were the case, why do another Barber-style attack after the Heidelberg assault? Also, if they were practice runs, why cut hair? It sounds like something sexually motivated, a hair fetish perhaps.
If that were the case and Dolan were the assailant, why keep his prizes in the back yard? Also, it doesn’t seem that the footprint in Carol Peattrie’s room was ever analyzed, a definite oversight on the part of the police.
As it often happens, there are no definitive answers in this case. It is certainly possible that a pervert with a hair fetish was stalking the streets of Pascagoula.
Whether that pervert was William Dolan, or another man who decided to book it out of town once authorities snapped up Dolan and his name was linked to the attacks, remains unknown. The identity of the Phantom Barber of Pascagoula will remain a mystery.
Source: Pajimans, Theo. “The Phantom Barber of Pascagoula.” ForteanTimes.com. November 2009. Fortean Times. March 17, 2014
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Mysterious disappearance of a woman who fell into a well

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A very strange case occurred in Mexico when people heard a woman’s
scream coming from a well, but rescuers did not find anyone there. And
now they suspect it was a ghost.

The
creepiest thing is that the screaming woman was heard both by those who
called the rescuers and by the rescuers themselves. And this woman
answered their questions.

The incident happened a few days ago in
the Mexican city of Saltillo. From a narrow sewer well located on the
territory of a certain colony, a local resident heard women’s screams.

And this happened, as stated, at 3:30 am. This time – 3 am or 3:30 am in the culture of many nations is called the Devil’s Hour.

Then
this man came to the nearest hospital, saying that a woman had fallen
into a well and was asking for help. He said the woman told him her name
was Juanita.

Employees
of the “Violet” security group, who are constantly on duty at this
hospital, immediately went to the scene of the incident. They reached
the indicated well, the depth of which was 6 meters, and one of them
shouted into the dark depths, asking the name of the victim. Everyone
heard a woman’s voice answer “Juanita” from the depths.

After
this, the rescuers began to shine their lanterns into the well, but they
could not see the person there. Then they called the fire department
and within a few minutes firefighters arrived with special equipment.

They
lowered a ladder into the well and one of the firefighters went down on
it, but only discovered that it was completely empty and there were no
signs of human presence.

At the bottom of the well there was only a
narrow channel for water, through which even a child, let alone an
adult, could not crawl.

A subsequent search of the area, including
a nearby sewer, for the alleged victim turned up nothing. The rescuers
left the place in complete bewilderment.

When news of this
incident appeared in the media, local paranormal investigator Roberto
Avila claimed that Juanita was the ghost of a woman who had once died
here.

“We
were told that a person died here several years ago. Perhaps this
person still does not realize that he is no longer in the world of the
living, and his spirit still continues to cry out for help.”

Avila
also has a theory that in the well there was a “lower being from the
astral plane” who, with his screams, tried to provoke an accident on the
road that passes nearby.

“The lower entity from the astral plane
sits in a place where black waters pass. In these places, portals
regularly appear, which are gates to other dimensions,” says Avila.

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“Cursed charity shop painting ruined my life”, says British woman

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A British woman purchased a portrait of a young girl from a charity shop and now asserts that the picture is cursed, reports mirror.co.uk.

Zoe
Elliot-Brown, aged 36, spotted an artwork by an unfamiliar artist at
the Hastings Advice Representation Center in St Leonards-on-Sea, East
Sussex, a month ago.

Simultaneously, the seller cautioned Zoe
about the painting possibly being cursed, revealing that a prior
purchaser of the same artwork had returned it to the store with the
statement “it ruined my life.”

Out of curiosity, Zoe captured an
image of the painting on her smartphone and shared the photo with her
68-year-old mother, Jane Elliot-Brown. Her mother seemed to be entranced
by the painting.

Instantly,
she began urging Zoe to acquire the painting. Yielding to her mother’s
persuasion, Zoe paid £20 for the artwork. However, as soon as she
introduced it into her home, strange occurrences commenced taking place.

As
Zoe entered her home and positioned the painting in the living room,
their dog named Cilla leaped up and started growling at the artwork.
Cilla deliberately kept her distance, refraining from approaching the
picture. Subsequently, Zoe’s mother’s health took a sharp decline. She
began experiencing alternating spells of fever and chills, requiring her
to wear four sweaters to keep warm.

Concurrently, Zoe’s mother
seemed to be captivated by the painting. She continuously gazed at it
and even caressed the painted girl’s cheek. During the night, she heard
peculiar knocks emanating from the room where the picture hung, despite
the room being unoccupied.

Zoe managed to persuade her mother that
the painting held negative energy and was cursed. However, Jane
staunchly defended the painting, reluctant to part with it.

“I’ve
never seen my mother yearn for something so intensely. She was
entranced by it, but not in a positive manner. She guarded it. She
frequently gazed at it. She ran her fingers over the painted girl’s
cheeks and polished the surface, although the painting didn’t require
polishing.”

“Each time I mentioned disposing of the painting, she
became exceedingly irritable. It transformed into a sort of family
heirloom for her, something she began cherishing.”

“My mother
flatly refused to get rid of the painting. I think it’s a bit like the
magic power of the Lord of the Rings ring. It definitely works in an
attractive and charming way, it seems to pull you towards it.

“My mother became a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings,” says Zoe.

Jane
herself says that it seems to her that the painted girl is very unhappy
and she stroked her to comfort her. She also does not attribute the
deterioration of her health to the purchase of the painting.

At
the same time, she admits that there were several cases when someone
seemed to knock on the door, and when she opened it, there was no one on
the threshold.

One day, Jane became so ill that she fainted right
in the bathroom. Zoe called 911, but her mother refused to go to the
hospital and was eventually left at home.

One morning, Zoe entered
the living room and saw her mother standing and stroking the painted
girl on her cheeks. And the mother could not remember how she ended up
in the living room and what she did at night.

“It
was strange behavior, especially for my mom. She couldn’t remember
anything from what happened last night. My mom is still very weird and
distracted and doesn’t want to discuss it.”

And then something
even more frightening happened. Zoe and her friend Ben went for a walk
on a hill during a thunderstorm and suddenly saw a “creepy black figure”
that suddenly appeared in front of them.

They do not know if this
is related to the painting, but they immediately ran back in fear.
Deciding to get rid of the cursed painting, Zoey eventually took it and
took it to the same shop where she bought it.

And when she drove
up to the store, she saw that in one of the tires of the car, brand new,
someone stuck a screw. She gave the painting to the seller, but then
changed her mind and took it back.

She
didn’t want someone else to buy the painting and get hurt because of
it. Now Zoe wants to give the picture only to someone who understands
damn things.

Now the painting is kept in Zoya’s house in a box filled with sage (it is believed that sage helps against evil spirits).

She also hung sage in every corner of the house, although Zoya’s mother was very unhappy with this.

“I
thought knowing my luck some idiot will go and get it and try and burn
it and I don’t really want to be left with the remainder of whatever the
hell has been going on. Technically I was the last owner. [I want it]
dealt with properly. […]”

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