Not necessarily the most auspicious start to a week, but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right? Speaking of running ragged, lets talk about the Raggedy Man (or the Tatterdemalion, if you prefer).
The Raggedy Man is the closest thing to a cautionary tale that those in the distant past had about "Stranger Danger". Depicted as living only a hair above the level of a transient, "the Rag and Bone Man" was the colloquialism used to describe a person who collected scrap metal, bone, and fabric to sell back to others: the modern analog could be those homeless who spend their time collecting recyclables to make enough money for food. Now, in and of itself, that doesn't sound too bad. But keeping in mind that he quietly travelled from town to town in search of his wares, and also didn't have a whole lot to lose (and the inherent anonymity of a social outcast), -and- the fact that children went missing all the time, it was easy to see that the majority attracted quite a bit of suspicion. Tie that to stories of certain Rag Men who somehow were consistently able to make lively incomes from the vast quantities of bone they were able to sell, seemingly from out of nowhere...
Thus was born one of the first "door-to-door" serial killer stories. As far as bogeymen went, there was definitely a division between reality and fantasy in that there were many legitimate, trusted Rag-And-Bone Men (and in fact, with the global recession really starting to set in, the profession is making a comeback, believe it or not) to contrast with the dark killers that some were rumored to be. Supernaturally, there wasn't a whole lot going on for them, and physically they tended to be fairly unremarkable excepting that they were usually very gaunt and lithe (from their hard living), had faces that were usually vague and forgettable, and that they were exceedingly hard to kill due to enduring a lifetime of scavenging. Sort of like a skinny Jason Vorhees, if you will. However, while there wasn't anything directly paranormal about them, if there were indeed a few who travelled around murdering those when they thought they could get away with it (and, to be honest, it seems like a perfect profession for at least one or two to have engaged in it), then there remains a distinct possibility that a couple of dark Rag Men may have created many unfortunate situations (i.e., ripe for paranormal residuals) in far-off wild places that are begging for further investigation...maybe it's time to follow the dancing lights after all? :P
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