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The Shadow Man & His Damned Hat

He is certainly a unique fellow. I understand that he is in poor health these days, sadly, suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
So soon he will become part of his exhibition, as he wants his body to be 'plasticised' and displayed after his death apparently.
 
I'm pretty sure you're referring to Blake of Scotland Yard (a movie serial; later edited into a single feature film), and the master criminal was known as The Scorpion.

SOURCE: http://mjsimpson-films.blogspot.com/2013/01/blake-of-scotland-yard.html
Right as usual, Enola Gaia, you are a wizard! :twothumbs:

If I'd had any doubts, these lines in the blog would have convinced me: " 'Spectacular thrills. Baffling mystery.’
Baffling is right. This could be the least comprehensible 73 minutes of your life. And the longest."
 
Frankie Says…. he’ll protect you from this man.

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Which kinda made The Ant Hill Mob surplus to requirements.
This is an interesting image. When considering my brothers run ins with the man in the top hat and cloak I was thinking ‘where would a little boy have seen that image?’ But here is an example from a cartoon we watched regularly as kids. Thank you this has given me food for thought .
 
"I'll get you, Penelope Pitstop!"

"Hay-elp! Hay-elp!"

Oh the memories! The family next door had 3 kids, the youngest was a boy of about 5 who couldn't get his tongue around Penelope's name, so of course it came out as "Penelope Pissedoff". Cue the rest of us kids ROFLing every time. Simpler times *sigh*
 
This is an interesting image. When considering my brothers run ins with the man in the top hat and cloak I was thinking ‘where would a little boy have seen that image?’ But here is an example from a cartoon we watched regularly as kids. Thank you this has given me food for thought .

Not to mention the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...
 
This is an interesting image. When considering my brothers run ins with the man in the top hat and cloak I was thinking ‘where would a little boy have seen that image?’ But here is an example from a cartoon we watched regularly as kids. Thank you this has given me food for thought .
Not to mention the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...
And the 'crowman' from Worzel Gummidge.

b89fba9b5d3e388321a5792c730f9ce8--the-crow-childhood-memories.jpg
 
And the 'crowman' from Worzel Gummidge.

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And the archetypical moustache-twirling, cape-swishing character who tied girls to railway tracks in all the pastiches of silent movies. We only had to see a man in a big hat and a cape for us to understand that 'here was the villain', as though a big cloak and a top hat were shorthand for 'evil.'
 
I was wondering if the image of a top hat and caped individual became a popular 'villian' outfit in early cinema due to the the newspaper descriptions of JTR.
 
I was wondering if the image of a top hat and caped individual became a popular 'villian' outfit in early cinema due to the the newspaper descriptions of JTR.
I don't know - that kind of villain always seems to be rather upper-class, or at least aspiring to be upper-class, and I guess the top hat and cape were de rigeur evening wear for the Victorian upper-class gent so perhaps that's where the image came from. The upper classes probably had more leisure time to hatch evil plans than the hoipolloi.
 
I really like the idea of Glimmerman. New one on me! Have many people seen him? Does he pop up all over the place? Is he essentially a woodland denizen, like Bigfoot? If Bigfoot is a trans-dimensional phenomenon, could Glimmerman be a semi-visible apparition of the same creature? And - most importantly - does Glimmerman have his own thread on here?
 
No - there's no thread dedicated to the Glimmer Man / Glimmerman trope.

The Glimmer Man is typically described as a human / humanoid figure that is translucent or almost totally transparent. The figure is described as being discernible as a distortion or perturbation in the air. The earliest accounts almost always compare the figure's appearance to the cloaked / invisible creature in Predator.
 
Thanks EG. Fascinating stuff. This one has slipped by me - but considering the nature of his description, that isn't surprising! He probably manages to slip by a lot of people :freak:
 
As far as I know the Glimmer Man trope emerged much more recently than the earlier shadow / hat / slender / etc. man tropes.

I'm not sure when Glimmer Man was first reported. If there was a report earlier than the release of Predator (1987) I haven't found it.

It can be difficult to search for info relating to this version of "Glimmer Man", owing to all the hits one gets relating to the 1996 film, 1940s-era Irish gas inspectors specifically, or any snooping observer or authority figure (by generalization from the Irish gas inspectors).
 
No - there's no thread dedicated to the Glimmer Man / Glimmerman trope.

The Glimmer Man is typically described as a human / humanoid figure that is translucent or almost totally transparent. The figure is described as being discernible as a distortion or perturbation in the air. The earliest accounts almost always compare the figure's appearance to the cloaked / invisible creature in Predator.

There are a couple of stories that predate the film one from the early 60's and one from the 70's.
 
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Arent flannel/plaid shirts incredibly popular with a certain subset of Americans, usually ones that do activities or work in and around wooded areas, in the UK they are known colloquially as lunberjack shirts.
Yes. Heavier-weight versions (e.g., wool blends) are also called "lumberjack shirts" in American parlance.
 
Arent flannel/plaid shirts incredibly popular with a certain subset of Americans, usually ones that do activities or work in and around wooded areas, in the UK they are known colloquially as lunberjack shirts.

serious-bearded-hipster-in-plaid-shirt-looking-away-picture-id507711062


“Chop down a tree? ls there an iPhone XXVII app for that? Can you get skinny half-caf soya latte frappuccinos in the woods? How’s the wifi?”

maximus otter
 
serious-bearded-hipster-in-plaid-shirt-looking-away-picture-id507711062


“Chop down a tree? ls there an iPhone XXVII app for that? Can you get skinny half-caf soya latte frappuccinos in the woods? How’s the wifi?”

maximus otter
I do believe you have found yourself that most Fortean of Creatures "The Hipster"; half emo, half lumberjack, with a sprinkle of glam. They tend to hang around coffee shops and dabble with shrubbery.
 
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