Two young girls who live in a monastery, Lady of Victories, were shocked when they realize that someone has cut their hair. It seemed that their room had been broken into by a thief last night. But strangely, nothing was missing. The only thing the thief took away was their hair.
A small town in the state of Mississippi, Pascagoula, in early June 1942 was shocked by the reports of two girls from the monastery of Lady of Victories. The two young girls, Mary Evelyn Briggs and Edna Marie Hydel, claimed that their hair was cut by someone the night before. It turned out that there was the same report about this mysterious haircut by a 6-year-old little girl not far from the scene.
The city of Pascagoula was suddenly filled with anxiety and fear. Local newspapers also reported this incident and dubbed the hair thief with the name “Phantom Barber.” The Phantom Barber allegedly entered his victim’s room in the dark by breaking down the window at night while the victim was fast asleep. In the first week, this hair thief had managed to steal the hair of 3 women.
The victim had something in common, namely a woman and blonde hair. When carrying out the action, the Phantom Barber sometimes cuts the hair of its victims a little. But in every action, Phantom Barber never committed theft, and other crimes, all he did was taking the hair.
Actions of hair theft continue to occur from day to day, causing Pascagoula residents to increase their vigilance. Women were forbidden to go outside at night. Meanwhile, men were on guard around their homes. Bloodhounds were dispatched to trace the Phantom Barber’s trail.
A week after the first incident, David Peattie’s daughter Carol was targeted. But on this incident, the Phantom Barber left a dirty footprint on the bed. The police who handled this case was confused because the hair thief's whereabouts could not be tracked, while terror continued to haunt the city.
Even the police set up contests and offered a $ 300 reward to anyone who could provide information about the Phantom Barber. But it seems that all efforts were in vain because the hair thief's identity was still a mystery and cannot be revealed.
Until one day, the house of the Terrell Heidelburg couple was broken into by someone. The intruder entered through the window. This infiltration was linked to the Phantom Barber. But strangely, the intruder did not take a single hair. Instead, he brutally attacked the husband and wife. The husband was beaten with an iron pipe, while the wife fell unconscious after being beaten and lost her front teeth. Luckily the husband and wife survived the attack.
Two months later, in August, the police announced the arrest of a chemist named William A. Dolan, who was suspected of carrying out the assault and attempted murder of the Heidelburg couple. Dolan's residence was finally checked, and a number of haircuts were found from inside his house. But Dollan insists that he was not the Phantom Barber that the public was hunting. He admitted that he attacked the couple for personal grudges.
Dollan was eventually sentenced to 10 years for molestation and attempted murder. However, he was acquitted of hair theft charges because the footprints found in Carol’s room were different from Dollan’s, and also the way he entered the house was different from what the phantom barber used to do.
Since then, there have been no more cases of hair theft in Pascagoula. And who Phantom Barber really is and what his motives were in taking the women’s hair still holds a mystery to this day.
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