Historically Speaking: The mystery of the Waterproof Man who terrorized women in Exeter
On a chilly September night in 1893, a young shoe shop worker named Maud Robinson was attacked on Oak Street while trying to make her way home. The Exeter Gazette reported, “her assailant grabbed her by the throat, threw her violently to the ground and excitedly and hurriedly tore portions of her clothing from her limbs. She succeeded in loosening the grasp from her throat and yelled for help, which frightened the miscreant, and he ran away.”
The man was described as young, wearing a light suit and a mask. In the weeks that followed, more attacks occurred in Exeter, frightening a town that was otherwise considered to be quite safe.
Of the two local newspapers, the Exeter Gazette ran with the story while the Exeter News-Letter kept coverage tight, most likely to avoid further panic. The Gazettepointed out, “with but one policeman on duty nights it is impossible to properly protect our citizens from rash actions in remote parts of town.” In mid-October, the Gazettedescribed another attack. “His latest victim was overtaken on one of our most public streets, (at night of course), thrown down, the villain’s hand placed over her mouth and a garter taken from her leg.” Careful not to give the victim’s name, the Gazettedid use a recognizable name for the criminal: “the water-proof man.”
Everyone had heard of the waterproof man. When the Boston Globepicked up the trail, it freely used the name, although always putting the name in quotes. After Rachel Stackpole was attacked on River Street on October 5th, the Globeheadlined “ALL EXETER AROUSED. Mysterious ‘Waterproof Man’ Appears” Stackpole was able to escape relatively unharmed, but alerted bystanders, “to point to a tall man in a long ulster and slouch hat who was running across the fields.”
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Tales of a tall stranger who attacked young women had been circulating around New England for decades. The Boston Globe ran a story in 1887 alluding to the “unsolved mystery of 17 year’s standing. ‘The man with the waterproof cape’ was, 17 years ago this very month the terror of the cities on the Merrimac River. Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, and Lawrence were for more than two months under the reign of terror. The streets were deserted by women during October and November 1870, in those four cities, for fear of being seen and chased by that mysterious person. To this day his identity is unknown.” Wrapped in a long, black waterproof raincoat and cape, and often masked, the strange man would attack young women on the street – often grabbing them in a tight bear-hug. The most notable appearance of the waterproof man occurred in Lowell in November. He so frightened a young woman named Adell Hastings, that she threw herself into the Merrimac River. Quickly, a crowd formed on the bank and “the well-recognized canoe of the waterproof cape man came in sight, propelled by the powerful arms that were invisible under the wide spreading cloak. Straight for the drowning girl he made. On reaching the girl, through the semi-darkness the watchers saw him grasp the floating clothing of the girl. Dragging her into his small canoe he turned and looked at the occupants of the other boat. Then with that laugh that had frozen the blood of so many girls on lonely streets, he darted away.” Hastings was found hours later, cold, and wet in her boarding house. The waterproof cape man was never found.
After this incident, which appears to have been the most public sighting of the phantom, similar waterproof men would appear almost annually. Occasionally, one of these stalkers would be apprehended – like Manchester, New Hampshire’s waterproof cape man named George Wheeler, who was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail in 1876. Rowley, Massachusetts reported a “peeper” who was frightening and bothering residents in 1895. “Some say,” said the Boston Globe, “that the fellow has a pair of tall stilts and looks into chamber windows. It is supposed that the ‘waterproof man,’ who used to chase women some time ago, and the present peeper are one and the same person.”
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Amesbury reported a waterproof man in 1893, the same year as Exeter. Seabrook was haunted by a “strange person, clothed in a waterproof,” in 1895. A stalker in Belfast, Maine in 1899, who had been strutting around frightening women, “changed his disguise by putting on a waterproof coat. He has also stopped men and boys on the street, and used threatening language to them,” was reported in The Republican Journal. Like the other waterproof men, he was never caught.
The legend appears to have lingered for decades, only to disappear from public memory. Like the UK’s Spring-Heeled Jack, who could peep into upstairs windows or the internet’s Slenderman, these specters only survive as long as our imaginations allow. The identified women in Exeter who encountered him, Delia Nason, Maud Robinson, and Rachel Stackpole, were left frightened, but unharmed. Nason’s encounter was the most terrifying, as her accoster pulled out a pistol. She was able to run to a nearby home to make her escape. Locals were convinced he was the son of a wealthy resident or even a student at Phillips Exeter Academy. However, from this limited pool of possible suspects, no arrest was ever made. Just be careful this Halloween if you encounter a tall man in a black rain suit haunting the streets. It might be the waterproof man.
Barbara Rimkunas is the curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member. Join online at www.exeterhistory.org.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Historically Speaking: The mystery of the Waterproof Man
