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Odd People: Cranks, Eccentrics & Nutters

Get a female friend to ask him about them, he'd be less likely to take offence
 
HelzAngel said:
Get a female friend to ask him about them, he'd be less likely to take offence
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You could get her to ask where he got them - pretending she is looking for a pair for something and that might break the ice.
 
There was the youngish man who used to just stop and dance in the street in Leeds town centre in the early nineties. He didn't have any music, but he used to do some amazing body-popping (I think thats what it's called anyway) type moves, all the time with the most joyful beaming smile on his face. I used to see him around a lot back in those days.
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Wasn't he a Big Issue vendor? I'd always assumed he was half cut when i saw him dancing? Sadly i used to see him around a lot too when he was curled up in a ball on the ground, so maybe not a well man :(


He's a black man with dreadlocks, and he's always dressed like I'd imagine african royalty to dress - he wears a headdress, with a small cape that covers his head and neck, and usually has some kind of badly made robes in gold or silver or very bright colours. They look home-made by someone who can't sew - no hems or proper stitching, all frayed edges and uneven cuts.
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I haven't seen him around for quite a while. My ex-lodger claimed he was some sort of fundie moslem type, dunno though...
 
I must say I go along with the 'fetish' idea. A coupla mates and I were sitting around the other evening and one asked the other, "Have you seen the Baby Man lately?" Well, I was thunderstruck as they told me there's this daft bugger who goes to the grocers in a huge diaper, and baby clothes. "Come on, you're winding me up" I protested, but they (two of them) claimed it to be true. They explained this chap has a fetish for dressing up as a baby, and doing so in public gives him an 'extra' thrill. They even said he's well known for this. I haven't spotted him, and I must say I'm grateful for that.
 
my girlfriend once bought some pink rabbit ears for a night out, i found them one morning, and put them, forgot i was wearing them and answered the door to the postman, who stared at the sight of a 5'9" tattooed skinhead wearing pink bunny ears, i realised i had them on, but thought i'd have to say nothing and act normal. not a word said. one confused postie. job's a good'un.

i could tell the story about the adolf hitler name plate and the gas man, but will leave that for a relevant thread if one ever comes up...
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
There was the youngish man who used to just stop and dance in the street in Leeds town centre in the early nineties. He didn't have any music, but he used to do some amazing body-popping (I think thats what it's called anyway) type moves, all the time with the most joyful beaming smile on his face. I used to see him around a lot back in those days.
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Wasn't he a Big Issue vendor? I'd always assumed he was half cut when i saw him dancing? Sadly i used to see him around a lot too when he was curled up in a ball on the ground, so maybe not a well man :(


He's a black man with dreadlocks, and he's always dressed like I'd imagine african royalty to dress - he wears a headdress, with a small cape that covers his head and neck, and usually has some kind of badly made robes in gold or silver or very bright colours. They look home-made by someone who can't sew - no hems or proper stitching, all frayed edges and uneven cuts.
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I haven't seen him around for quite a while. My ex-lodger claimed he was some sort of fundie moslem type, dunno though...
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I think he was a big issue seller. I never saw him curled up on the ground but I did have an idea there was some kind of ...unwellness... about him!

I don't know the robe-man's story, but he's definitely still around. I've seen him in the last few months around Little London.
 
When I was a kid, an elderly gentleman was often standing in his driveway, leaning on his cane with one hand and gesturing with his other hand as if he were trying to direct traffic.
 
Maybe you're the Paignton version of Donnie Darko...couldn't quite stretch to the creepy bunny suit, so a pair of pink bunny ears will have to do.
 
I was in a tackle shop today, and some bloke who sounded German came in singing "happy birthday you" just that line over and over again always missing out the "to", he walked over to me, asked "Is it your birthday", and then just walked out. :wtf:
 
You never see bunnies wearing man ears, do you? Does this man have a fluffy tail, too? Could be he's gradually going to turn into a rabbit.
 
Star Trek got 'Trekkies' fans who dress in Star Trek uniforms.

Perhaps he is a fan of 'Donnie Darko' and wears bunny ears?
 
SameOldVardoger said:
Star Trek got 'Trekkies' fans who dress in Star Trek uniforms.

?
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Yeah, but we don't do it in the street, only at conventions. Then again maybe there's a huge underground Donnie Darko convention in Paignton, that's been going on for a while.
 
Prof_Pretorius said:
I must say I go along with the 'fetish' idea. A coupla mates and I were sitting around the other evening and one asked the other, "Have you seen the Baby Man lately?" Well, I was thunderstruck as they told me there's this daft bugger who goes to the grocers in a huge diaper, and baby clothes. "Come on, you're winding me up" I protested, but they (two of them) claimed it to be true. They explained this chap has a fetish for dressing up as a baby, and doing so in public gives him an 'extra' thrill. They even said he's well known for this. I haven't spotted him, and I must say I'm grateful for that.
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There's a 'baby man' in our area too. Several people walking in a local small park have been approached by a young man, late teens or early twenties, wearing nothing but a huge nappy. He never acts or speaks threateningly, but, needless to say, those who encounter him find it vaguely disturbing.
 
I've seen the bunny-ears bloke in Paignton! It was last August, and he was just coming out of a shop round the corner from the railway station. I just assumed he was doing some sort of publicity thing (you see a fair few odd dressed people in central Bristol, usually advertising something or other).

There's a wealth of stuff along these lines in the Strange Folk, which starts with a paranormal slant but soon settles into a catalogue of local oddballs, and Freak Town, UK, which goes straight into the local loonies.
 
caroleaswas said:
There's a 'baby man' in our area too. Several people walking in a local small park have been approached by a young man, late teens or early twenties, wearing nothing but a huge nappy. He never acts or speaks threateningly, but, needless to say, those who encounter him find it vaguely disturbing.
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..and p!ss themselves presumably.

(there's irony in there somewhere)
 
Talking to a chap tonight who used to work as a window cleaner. He used to do a big house regularly, and every few months was invited inside to do the conservatory windows.

But he wasn't allowed to disturb the cobwebs.

Apparently the sole lady resident lived in just one room (despite being very well off), and all the other rooms were full of cobwebs - she wouldn't have a spider killed.
 
We have an older couple in the town that I live that are pretty strange. There is a hair salon on the main drag, that they always sit in front of... For the longest time I thought they were homeless because they were always there. They both wear Edmonton Eskimos sports jackets, and the lady has a bike most of the time, with a huge EE flag on it. They just sit the day away, winter or summer, smoking. I suppse this guy has a thing for cats too. I have seen him a few times letting the shop cat at the salon in or out, and chasing it around. It turns out they do have a home in a trailer park in town, one where a friend of mine lives. Almost every day, for a month, she would open up her front door to have cats run into her house, from the closed porch. She could not figure out what was going on until one night, late at night, she saw him walking up the doorstep with an armful of cats, open the door and toss them in. She ran out and caught up with him, and he told her he was returning her cats. he thought that EVERY single cat he could get his hands on was hers... :lol:
 
stuneville said:
I've seen the bunny-ears bloke in Paignton! It was last August
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I used to live in torquay and often walked the coast road to paignton, to visit some favourite second hand book shops. Im going there again soon, ill keep and eye out for him.
 
Oh man - I saw a cautionary tale on people having tattoos today!

I was wandering through town, having just had a haircut (I grow it myself, don'tcher'no) and I spotted a little old lady buzzing along on her shopmobility scooter. I must confess I didn't pay super close attention initially, but she appeared to look like anyone's old gran, bundled up in one of those special heavy-duty oldpersoncoats, and wearing a bobble hat. What attracted my attention was the tattoo that she had. On her face.

I say tattoo, that may be a bit generous - it looked exactly like a rubbish prison tattoo made with a sewing needle and a fountain pen, and said "I love somebody or other". Agreed, it may just have been pen, but it still seems a bit odd, and not what you expect on the face of a 70 year old woman!
 
agentbuffy said:
I say tattoo, that may be a bit generous - it looked exactly like a rubbish prison tattoo made with a sewing needle and a fountain pen, and said "I love somebody or other". Agreed, it may just have been pen, but it still seems a bit odd, and not what you expect on the face of a 70 year old woman!
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Did it actually say "I love somebody or other"? Bizarre indeed.
 
Mythopoeika said:
agentbuffy said:
I say tattoo, that may be a bit generous - it looked exactly like a rubbish prison tattoo made with a sewing needle and a fountain pen, and said "I love somebody or other". Agreed, it may just have been pen, but it still seems a bit odd, and not what you expect on the face of a 70 year old woman!
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Did it actually say "I love somebody or other"? Bizarre indeed.
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No, I didn't see who (or what - it could have been jam roly-poly) she professed her love for on her cheek, but there was something written after the "I love ...". Also, there seemed to have been a game of hangman or something going on just after the tattoo was done, because the little set of gallows seemed to be on there as well!
 
I'm guessing a grand child had been having a bit of fun with a marker while she was asleep, and she hadn't looked in the mirror.
 
Sounds a bit like the M in Law, who had a cataract operation on Tuesday, one of these in & out in the same day jobs.

They mark a cross on the patients forehead, above the eye to be "done", so they don't operate on the wrong eye. Trouble is, no one bothered to remove the mark so for the next couple of days she was wandering around with the "mark of Cain" on her brow. :twisted:

Every one she met being too polite to tell her, while she herself doesn't see too well even with her good eye......
 
Xanatico said:
I'm guessing a grand child had been having a bit of fun with a marker while she was asleep, and she hadn't looked in the mirror.
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I think you're most probably right - I wouldn't want to be there when she found out!
 
I want a thread about strange people we actually know or see. Cat-ladies and such. I'll start with my lame version of one:

In Wollongong, Australia, where I used to live, there is a guy who walks around the streets wearing black pants, a big, black coat and a black wide-brimmed hat. He looks like some evangelist from an American novel or something. My fiance and I call him The Preacher.
 
I've been seeing quite a lot of the very specific species of drunks who rant nastily about wars. You know:
and VIETNAM Yes fuckin vietnanmm yes and the fuckn japs and that and the bomb ahg and CHURCHILL YES CHURCHILL
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etc, lately.
I had been wondering what happens when they get together, if they tend to have a conversation about this common interest, or if it's limited to ranting.
 
H_James said:
I had been wondering what happens when they get together, if they tend to have a conversation about this common interest, or if it's limited to ranting.
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ive wondered this myself, only about the plethora of religious nuts in my city. ive personally met and conversed with at least [counting.....] half a dozen or so. one day, several months ago now, i happened upon two of them, whom i had never seen anywhere remotely near each other before, having a rather animated discussion. one was very normal looking (if you havent actually talked to him), neat hair, suit, glasses, bible carefully hidden under one arm. the other was a skinny, raggedy guy with a huge beard and very effeminate voice who, as far as ive ever been able to figure out, is the only jewish religious nut ive ever met. so i figured they must be having a hell of an interesting talk. but, as i got closer, i realized they were discussing bicycles....
so, my point is, it seems, based on this solitary incident, that they save most of their crazy talk for me.
 
There's a guy in my city who walks really fast while holding a radio to one ear and singing along with it rather loudly.

Haven't seen him for a while, though.
 
Ah! When crazy people meet...That's reminded me! One of my elderly next door neighbours is a bit of an odd one. I suspect he's got senile dementia of some sort. He's a very vocal catholic and has a very strong irish accent. A lot of what he says bears absolutely no relation to what's going on around him but is just him going off on a rant, usually about religion, sometimes not.

The other day I was waiting at a bus stop near my house and an elderly lady stopped to talk to me. she was also obviously not quite all there and our brief "conversation" was really just her going on about god in a strong irish accent. At the time I thought to myself how much she reminded me of my next door neighbour with her accent and in her thought and speech patterns.

A few days later I was absolutely delighted to see the same woman walking down my road randomly stopping and talking to everyone she met much as she had done with me at the bus stop. My neighbour has a habit of hanging around his front gate and harassing everyone who walks past and he was there at his usual place staring up and down the road. I was hoping and hoping that the woman would stop and talk to him because I was just dying to know what would happen if these two met. You can imagine my happiness when she did stop. I have to admit a sad thing now: I actually went out and pretended to be gardening so I could listen in! :oops: They began the most bizarre conversation I have ever had the pleasure of eavesdropping on. Neither had a clue what the other was talking about and they were both talking about totally different things, but both were obviously determined to get their point across. It escalated and they seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated. It finally ended when my neighbour flung his arms into the air and stormed off. I know I shouldn't mock the afflicted but I couldn't help a little snigger into my gardening gloves. In my defence he's given me loads of grief over the years - he's made some very personal and racist remarks to me since I moved in here as well as being an unbelievably nosy neighour and I've always let it go because he's obviously got mental health issues, so I think I'm entitled to some entertainment from him!
 
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