22. This Bout of Widespread Hysteria Was Driven by False Reports
As panic gripped Halifax and surrounding towns, wild-eyed vigilante groups were set up and started patrolling the region. They set upon and beat up many an innocent stranger, based on the suspicion that he was the Slasher. When another woman alleged that she had been attacked, a Good Samaritan who tried to help was wrongly accused by vigilantes of being the Slasher. He was attacked by a mob, and it took the intervention of police, who escorted him home, to save his life.
The mass hysteria finally began to subside on November 29, 1938, when one of the “victims” of the Slasher admitted that his injuries were self-inflicted. Other supposed victims soon confessed that they, too, had made up the attacks. After 9 of 12 victims confessed to self-harm, Scotland Yard concluded that there had never been a “Halifax Slasher” and closed the investigation. Five locals who had filed false reports were arrested and charged, and four of them ended up doing time in prison for public mischief.
