Poison Pen
- Thread starter JamesWhitehead
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Anonymous
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Four years ago a man I'd been dating for 2 weeks got an anonymous letter "warning" him that I had silicone implants (I didn't). We both found it bizarre rather than worrying and decided to ignore. Weeks later I got a note "warning" me that the said boyfriend was gay and a virgin! Again, knowing it to be untrue we weren't particularly bothered. Some disturbed and aggreived individual had nothing better to do.
Later a female colleage, M, approached a good friend of mine and ask if I fancied a male colleague, J. The rumour was very skillfully started off with that keyword of "if". No-one bothered to check the truth and the rumour spread like wildfire, even to J. Demanding an answer from M, she merely shrugged and said she'd made a mistake.
But M continued to act very strangely towards me. No matter what I did, she would stare at me. I couldn't imagine what fascinated her so much. She was incredibly interested in my private life and if a man from another department so much as spoke to me, M would rush over and ask if we were an item.
One day we had a departmental meeting with our manager, R. Throughout the meeting, M's head zoomed from me to R continually. I had a funny feeling. Sure enough, days later, M was asking friends of mine if I was having an affair with R, a man in his 60's with who I had nothing in common. The upshot was that my boyfriend discovered the rumours and I had to take time to convince him it was untrue. Thankfully he believed me.
By this time I couldn't trust myself to speak to M without throttling her. But occasionally work demanded that I converse with her. I admit that I felt rather sorry for her. She had three children and her husband was agorophobic, leaving her to do everything. One day she steered the conversation around to my boyfriend, a man from another town whom she certainly could not know. Unwittingly, she identified herself as the author of the anonymous letters. After the fufore, it turned out that other colleagues were getting poison letters but embarrassment ensured that we all kept it to ourselves until M was exposed.
M never attempted to deny she'd sent any of the letters. In a strangely breezy and casual manner, she explained that she didn't realise it would all be taken so seriously. We were gobsmacked. A group of us threatened to sue M. She promptly left our company. Glad to be shot of her, I was prepared to forget.
A year must have gone by.
I was in a nightclub, dancing the night away with a new boyfriend. At one point, he leant over and whispered in my ear: "Do you see that woman over there? She hasn't taken her eyes off you all night."
Yes, it was M. She was prepared to forgo her night out just so she could observe me. I steeled myself for an onslaught of new letters but none came. I'm sure she found new victims in her next job.
Ironically after that I myself wanted to send her poison letters. But although tempting, it's a cowardly thing to do and would only be affective if the recipient knew it was you. By then, of course, the police could be on your tail...
Later a female colleage, M, approached a good friend of mine and ask if I fancied a male colleague, J. The rumour was very skillfully started off with that keyword of "if". No-one bothered to check the truth and the rumour spread like wildfire, even to J. Demanding an answer from M, she merely shrugged and said she'd made a mistake.
But M continued to act very strangely towards me. No matter what I did, she would stare at me. I couldn't imagine what fascinated her so much. She was incredibly interested in my private life and if a man from another department so much as spoke to me, M would rush over and ask if we were an item.
One day we had a departmental meeting with our manager, R. Throughout the meeting, M's head zoomed from me to R continually. I had a funny feeling. Sure enough, days later, M was asking friends of mine if I was having an affair with R, a man in his 60's with who I had nothing in common. The upshot was that my boyfriend discovered the rumours and I had to take time to convince him it was untrue. Thankfully he believed me.
By this time I couldn't trust myself to speak to M without throttling her. But occasionally work demanded that I converse with her. I admit that I felt rather sorry for her. She had three children and her husband was agorophobic, leaving her to do everything. One day she steered the conversation around to my boyfriend, a man from another town whom she certainly could not know. Unwittingly, she identified herself as the author of the anonymous letters. After the fufore, it turned out that other colleagues were getting poison letters but embarrassment ensured that we all kept it to ourselves until M was exposed.
M never attempted to deny she'd sent any of the letters. In a strangely breezy and casual manner, she explained that she didn't realise it would all be taken so seriously. We were gobsmacked. A group of us threatened to sue M. She promptly left our company. Glad to be shot of her, I was prepared to forget.
A year must have gone by.
I was in a nightclub, dancing the night away with a new boyfriend. At one point, he leant over and whispered in my ear: "Do you see that woman over there? She hasn't taken her eyes off you all night."
Yes, it was M. She was prepared to forgo her night out just so she could observe me. I steeled myself for an onslaught of new letters but none came. I'm sure she found new victims in her next job.
Ironically after that I myself wanted to send her poison letters. But although tempting, it's a cowardly thing to do and would only be affective if the recipient knew it was you. By then, of course, the police could be on your tail...
I have - or rather had - a little bean bag type model of the 3-eyed alien from "Toy Story". He was last seen on a beach in Phuket (lucky thing).
As for poison pen letters - yep, guilty! I was only about 14 and it only happened once, and anyway he deserved it!
Jane.
As for poison pen letters - yep, guilty! I was only about 14 and it only happened once, and anyway he deserved it!
Jane.
A
Anonymous
Guest
never had poison pen letters, but had a LOT of dodgy phone messages off people i used to work for in Manchester. Far too many so called legitimate companies up there are run by dodgy geezers who think they're mobsters, and a lot of companies ARE actually owned by gangsters, though you'd never know it. Anyway, certain ppl didn't take too kindly of me for leaving them in the lurch, even though i did go 5 weeks without pay! Needless to say, before i left the company i took all my records with me so all they had was my old mobile number...which they then left countless messages on for about 3 months...
ramonmercado
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A history of “Poison Pen” Letters.
In the early twentieth century one genre of anonymous letter became so prominent it was given a name: the “poison pen” letter. Coined in America, the term “poison pen” was first used in 1911 in a headline for an article in the Maryland Evening Post. The press popularized the term in Britain in the 1920s.
Poisoning was the form of murder most connected to women, and these letters were regarded as a form of social poisoning more often than not perpetrated by women. Designed to cause trouble, the letters were, in some ways, a continuation of neighborly over-the-fence gossip, defamation, and rancor. Some were libelous, some were obscene, some were threatening, some were all three. Others were very banal.
Will the Sanitary Inspector when he has time have a look through – 14 Myrtle Rd.
[Sent to The Sanitary Inspector, Council House, Hounslow, 23 March 1915]
This pithy message, written on a Christmas postcard previously addressed to (but presumably never received by) a “Mr. Townsend,” arrived at the office of the Heston and Isleworth sanitary inspectors in March 1915. It draws the inspector’s attention to an address on Myrtle Road in Hounslow, West London. The inspector is not invited to look at any particular issue. Sanitary inspectors often received anonymous communications.
Adapted from Penning Poison: A History of Anonymous Letters by Emily Cockayne. Copyright © 2023 by Emily Cockayne and published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
https://lithub.com/epistolary-gossip-on-the-history-and-morality-of-the-poison-pen-letter/
In the early twentieth century one genre of anonymous letter became so prominent it was given a name: the “poison pen” letter. Coined in America, the term “poison pen” was first used in 1911 in a headline for an article in the Maryland Evening Post. The press popularized the term in Britain in the 1920s.
Poisoning was the form of murder most connected to women, and these letters were regarded as a form of social poisoning more often than not perpetrated by women. Designed to cause trouble, the letters were, in some ways, a continuation of neighborly over-the-fence gossip, defamation, and rancor. Some were libelous, some were obscene, some were threatening, some were all three. Others were very banal.
Will the Sanitary Inspector when he has time have a look through – 14 Myrtle Rd.
[Sent to The Sanitary Inspector, Council House, Hounslow, 23 March 1915]
This pithy message, written on a Christmas postcard previously addressed to (but presumably never received by) a “Mr. Townsend,” arrived at the office of the Heston and Isleworth sanitary inspectors in March 1915. It draws the inspector’s attention to an address on Myrtle Road in Hounslow, West London. The inspector is not invited to look at any particular issue. Sanitary inspectors often received anonymous communications.
Adapted from Penning Poison: A History of Anonymous Letters by Emily Cockayne. Copyright © 2023 by Emily Cockayne and published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
https://lithub.com/epistolary-gossip-on-the-history-and-morality-of-the-poison-pen-letter/
maximus otter
Recovering policeman
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Ah but what has the facade been hiding over the past 100 plus years?
Floyd
Antediluvian
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This makes my blood boil;
downpipes not plumb and covered in paint and terrible lead flashing. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
maximus otter
Recovering policeman
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Looks very much like a cheap makeover by a speculator. I'm not too keen on what appears to be dodgy work to the fire walls either.
Floyd
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*You don't see those very often around here.
Some terraced houses still don't have the internal walls, so you could actually walk from one house to another through the loft spaces.
I lived in a semi like that years ago.
*Edit- where the wall actually comes out of the roof.
Steven
A tribute act to Sweep
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This is likely a controversial view - and, besides, my opinions often lag behind other people's, as I'm often 'slow' like that - but is poison-pen writing mainly a female endeavour? There are two reasons for my viewpoint:
* Women, so often rendered powerless in history (and even in their own relationships), have frequently had to be content with 'small victories' when wronged. I mean the kind of minor, bloodless vengeances like cutting-up a cheating husband's suit. We can laugh at this - because the male partner's (assumed) dignity and self-image has perhaps been exposed as pompous nonsense - and maybe think 'Good on her!'; but we should also be thankful for such a non-violent revenge. And consider how violent - essentially childish - the reaction might well be if she were the unfaithful partner.
* Secondly, my mum had a habit I'm told is more common amongst women than men - (hypothetically) if she was angry at, say, a company which had ripped her off or mistreated her in some way, then she might take all her anger out on a piece of paper...by setting down her exasperation in a letter which would likely never be sent. She said that she always, without fail, felt much better for this.
So, while these examples are poor ones (regarding how very malicious poison pen letters can actually be), are they indicative of thwarted lives? I've no doubt that such letters can ruin recipients' lives, and so I'm not proffering a whitewash of genuine malice here; but I do wonder if the whole business is essentially sad...and that there might be historical reasons in play when some women are the instigators.
* Women, so often rendered powerless in history (and even in their own relationships), have frequently had to be content with 'small victories' when wronged. I mean the kind of minor, bloodless vengeances like cutting-up a cheating husband's suit. We can laugh at this - because the male partner's (assumed) dignity and self-image has perhaps been exposed as pompous nonsense - and maybe think 'Good on her!'; but we should also be thankful for such a non-violent revenge. And consider how violent - essentially childish - the reaction might well be if she were the unfaithful partner.
* Secondly, my mum had a habit I'm told is more common amongst women than men - (hypothetically) if she was angry at, say, a company which had ripped her off or mistreated her in some way, then she might take all her anger out on a piece of paper...by setting down her exasperation in a letter which would likely never be sent. She said that she always, without fail, felt much better for this.
So, while these examples are poor ones (regarding how very malicious poison pen letters can actually be), are they indicative of thwarted lives? I've no doubt that such letters can ruin recipients' lives, and so I'm not proffering a whitewash of genuine malice here; but I do wonder if the whole business is essentially sad...and that there might be historical reasons in play when some women are the instigators.
Herr Cloaca
Abominable Snowman
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There's a pretty good film - Le corbeau (1943)
A vicious series of poison-pen letters spreads rumours, suspicion and fear among the inhabitants of a French village, and one after another, they turn on each other as their secrets are revealed.
A vicious series of poison-pen letters spreads rumours, suspicion and fear among the inhabitants of a French village, and one after another, they turn on each other as their secrets are revealed.
blessmycottonsocks
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This Dark Histories podcast, from series 2, gives an extreme example of poison pen letters:
https://www.darkhistories.com/the-circleville-letters-mystery/
https://www.darkhistories.com/the-circleville-letters-mystery/
Min Bannister
Possessed dog
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I wonder if people still physically write actual poison pen letters? Or is it all done by email, twixter etc?
Probably much easier to trace on the tinterweb rather than through the post but I doubt that these characters would realise that or even care.