The Ratman of Southend is an English
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
originating in
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
.
The story of the Ratman tells of an old homeless man, seeking shelter from the cold in an underpass, was set upon by a group of youths and beaten to near-death, cold and blood loss doing the rest. As he died, the numerous vermin who inhabit the area gathered, and were found to have devoured his face. After this, a ghostly figure was spotted in the underpass, with people hearing ratlike squealing, and scraping, as if large claws were moving across the walls.
In popular culture
A short film about the Ratman of Southend, directed by Michael Holiday, was entered in 2019 during the annual Horror-on-Sea film festival in Southend.
In 2020, Afterlight Comics published Folktales of the Cryptids Vol. 2.
An anthology revolving around different folkloric creatures, in which the Ratman is included.
References
External links
from Mysterious BritainArticle discussing the Ratman story among other folkloric English charactersA list of Southend's most haunted locationsBBC America article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratman of Southend, The
Urban legends
English ghosts
Southend-on-Sea (town)