The Gurning Man, Glasgow

[Matthew1034]

Did a quick search but nothing but turned up. So apologies if this is a repost.

Found this https://www.wattpad.com/186075101-ghosts-around-united-kingdom-the-gurning-man recently and thought it was interesting. Seems like a very "pranksterish" apparition, a bit like Spring Heeled Jack, or that one guy in London who would leap out and slap people.

So is it a ghost, demon or just a continuation of great British tradition of pranksters?

 

[Cherrybomb]

This is one of those things that i find genuinely creepy. I can't find much on him though, sadly.

 

[Reverend D]

This is a story I've been fascinated with for many years- not least because I've always lived in or around Crosshill.

The Gurning Man seems to have reappeared very recently too, as you can read at https://www.british-paranormal.co.uk/have-you-seen-the-gurning-man-of-glasgow/ .

Does anyone have any more info, perhaps street names where he has been seen, or which area of Queens Park he was spotted at? (The park is a big place!)

Interesting to read in the article linked to in the first post that there were 17 sightings in total in the '70s- it only seems to be the same 3 that are described in any detail though.

I'd be very grateful if anyone has, or could suggest where to find, some more info, as I'm more than willing to do some legwork and investigating of my own in the area and would of course report any news here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Frideswide]

Oh my goodness! Oh my tail and whiskers!!!!! :nails:

I haven't heard of this.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Really interesting story.

In the context of the original sightings it could well be that the gurning man was simply a mentally ill person whose shenanigans grew in the retelling and spawned more dramatic, and supernatural, elements through repetition (I suspect that this is not at all an unusual process). The odd dress code doesn't really seem so odd when you think what people were wearing back in the early 70's, and the facial spasms, uncontrollable hand gestures and odd vocalising are not outwith the symptoms of certain forms of illness.

But none of that makes any sense at all when you add the more recent tales to the mix.

Yep, this is quite spooky.

 

[Mythopoeika]

America has the Burning Man Festival. Maybe Britain could have the Gurning Man Festival?

 

[Frideswide]

I woinder if the way it seems to have developed and spread has a parallel with the Glasgow Vampire?

 

[Vardoger]

A male ghost in a leotard? One can only imagine.

 

[Reverend D]

I woinder if the way it seems to have developed and spread has a parallel with the Glasgow Vampire?

Could be, although I think the Glasgow Vampire was a fairly short-lived craze, and not backed up by any credible sightings. It (the Gurning Man, that is) may well have been something that spread in the 70s as people passed on FOAF stories.

 

[GerdaWordyer]

Interesting history. I thought "gurning" was just a trad form of making faces, usually won in contests by old guys who look like Popeye.
From WIkipedia: A gurn or chuck, in British English, is a distorted facial expression and a verb to describe the action. The American English equivalent is making a face.[1] A typical gurn might involve projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible, and covering the upper lip with the lower lip, though there are other possibilities.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Interesting history. I thought "gurning" was just a trad form of making faces, usually won in contests by old guys who look like Popeye.
From WIkipedia: A gurn or chuck, in British English, is a distorted facial expression and a verb to describe the action. The American English equivalent is making a face.[1] A typical gurn might involve projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible, and covering the upper lip with the lower lip, though there are other possibilities.

Classic example here:

 

[Vardoger]

Perhaps The Gurning Man was a sideshow character in a (you guessed it) sideshow on a tivoli? Since he was seen wearing a leotard.

 

[Reverend D]

Perhaps The Gurning Man was a sideshow character in a (you guessed it) sideshow on a tivoli? Since he was seen wearing a leotard.

It has to be said that Crosshill is right next to the Queen's Park Recreation Grounds, which hosts a circus/carnival every summer and has done for as long as i can remember. .. I can't find any mention in any of the reports of what time of year the sightings happened at, but I wonder if you're on to something here Vardoger.

Even if he was a performer having a wander around after dark, there's still the matter of at least two witnesses seeing him vanish though. Very strange case, this one!

 

[Vardoger]

It has to be said that Crosshill is right next to the Queen's Park Recreation Grounds, which hosts a circus/carnival every summer and has done for as long as i can remember. .. I can't find any mention in any of the reports of what time of year the sightings happened at, but I wonder if you're on to something here Vardoger.

Even if he was a performer having a wander around after dark, there's still the matter of at least two witnesses seeing him vanish though. Very strange case, this one!

I was just thinking of the background of the "ghost", since he has the appearance he has. Not saying he's a living person.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Interesting history. I thought "gurning" was just a trad form of making faces, usually won in contests by old guys who look like Popeye...

Improvements in dental health have probably made it a dying art; I believe that the ability to completely remove one's teeth is an essential factor for anyone wishing to reach the highest levels of gurnery.

 

[Reverend D]

The Gurning Man story is another yet invention of "A.L.Cuin" of the british-paranormal website. Contrary to any "reports of the Gurning Man made...between 1976 and 1979", the fictional story originates here: https://www.british-paranormal.co.uk/the-gurning-man-of-glasgow/

His Ghosts of Glasgow Subway (discussed elsewhere here) is equally bogus.

Quick question: how old is A L. Cuin and did he publish this story prior to the 2012 date on the site you link to? (yeah, that's two questions )

Just asking, coz I read this story long before that (early 2000s, I believe, although frustratingly I can't remember exactly where), and was told about in the 1990s.

 

[Spookdaddy]

I was listening to something yesterday that reminded me of this story.

Glasgow appears to be somewhat under-represented online when it comes to odd stuff - which seems strange for a historical city with a great big chunk of Irish and Highland heritage, and which is basically banter-central for planet earth.

Several items I have found trace back to the same A. L. Cuin source deemed highly questionable by elle. Unfortunately elle - and her original post (quoted in Kryptonite's post above) - seem to have disappeared.

Did anyone ever look into it any further?

 

[Vardoger]

GURNING MAN OF GLASGOW MYSTERY: THE TRUTH REVEALED!
By
MJ Steel Collins
-
17 July 2019
832
Gurning Man is a Glasgow urban legend from the 1970s that may well have been invented by the internet. MJ STEEL COLLINS looks at whether there’s any truth in the legend.

We have all heard an urban legend at some point about some wacky, perhaps horrific, tale that seems very unlikely.

And the person telling us it’s true because it happened to a friend of a friend.

Urban legends are no doubt taken with a pinch of salt by most.

They seem too outlandish to be true, and many of them follow well-worn tropes.

Still, they are also modern folklore, and folk tales do start with a grain of truth.

For the urban legend, Glasgow is an ideal environment.

Glaswegians are renowned patter merchants, and wacky tales form part of that. You just need to look at the stand-up routine of Sir Billy Connolly to see the proof in the pudding.

One weird tale told about Glasgow, reeking with all the traits of a good urban legend is a complex affair.

It has led to questions whether it actually happened.

More at https://www.spookyisles.com/gurning-man-glasgow/

 

[Reverend D]

I was listening to something yesterday that reminded me of this story.

Glasgow appears to be somewhat under-represented online when it comes to odd stuff - which seems strange for a historical city with a great big chunk of Irish and Highland heritage, and which is basically banter-central for planet earth.

Several items I have found trace back to the same A. L. Cuin source deemed highly questionable by elle. Unfortunately elle - and her original post (quoted in Kryptonite's post above) - seem to have disappeared.

Did anyone ever look into it any further?

I agree about Glasgow appearing to have less than its share of strange stuff- I've quite often had a free day where I'd like to go and wander around somewhere spooky but there isn't many options! The city is younger than many in the UK though, although parts of it have certainly been inhabited for a long time.

I couldn't find much online to add to the links above. Ideally I was looking for street names or more detail about precisely which area of the park the GM was seen at, since as I mentioned, I'd like to do some legwork and try to find out a bit more.

 

[Spookdaddy]

More at https://www.spookyisles.com/gurning-man-glasgow/

Interesting - but maybe doesn't entirely nail the lid completely shut.

According to the lone comment the case may be cited in a book called Channeling by John Klimo. The book's 1987 date of publishing would pretty much write off the event being an internet construct. That said, it's not outwardly obvious why such a thing might be included, given it's apparent subject matter - but who knows.

Too much to hope someone here has a copy?

For what it's worth, Queen's Park appears to have been a notorious pick up area for gay men when homosexual activity was still illegal, and at the time was unfenced and therefore unregulated in terms of opening times. Attacks and robberies were not uncommon, and mainly unreported - the second last person to be executed in Scotland, who was also the last teenager to be executed in the entire UK, was convicted for the murder of a gay man in Queen's Park. It was apparently after this that the park was fenced in and regulated.

All of that said, in my experience parks - especially in big cities, where private open space is at a premium - tend to attract their fair share of oddball behaviour. And that's maybe all this is - with a bit of embellishment in the retelling.