On the subject of strange visitors to Scarfolk, in October, 1974, there was a spate of cases involving parents being supplanted by eerie impostors. The frauds looked uncannily like their real counterparts and only children could spot the subtle differences.
For a time, affected children found a gritty substance in their school milk. At first poison was suspected but it turned out to be sand from a beach hundreds of miles away.
Despite police investigations none of the impostors were ever positively identified and there was a growing belief in the community that they might not even be human.
The impostors vanished as inexplicably as they had arrived and the children's real bewildered parents were found wandering on the very same beach from which the sand had originated. They had no idea how they got there, how long they had been away, or what had happened during their absence.
This leaflet/flyer was distributed in comic books, at schools, and in toy shops.
Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. Here in Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science; hauntology is a compulsory subject at school, and everyone must be in bed by 8pm because they are perpetually running a slight fever. "Visit Scarfolk today. Our number one priority is keeping rabies at bay." For more information please reread.
Sunday, 3 March 2013
"Is your mummy who she says she is?"
Labels:
1970s,
children,
Council,
drugs,
fear,
Hauntology,
occult,
Public Information,
Scarfolk,
school,
seaside,
supernatural
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This blog single-handedly redeems the entire internet.
ReplyDeleteAre you my Mummy?
ReplyDeleteGo to your room!
Delete01 prefix on telephone numbers didn't come into use until 1995 ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot true.
ReplyDeleteThis is a London prefix that was in use from 1959 and also happened to be the number of a famous BBC kids' TV show in the 1970s.
The 01 became 0171 and 0181 from the 90s onward.
(I'm not the anonymous that you just replied to) I recognised the telephone number from Swap Shop too - but wasn't it 01 811 8055??
DeleteYes, you're right, but everything in Scarfolk is always one number removed from everyone else. ;)
DeletePlease don't make me walk down by the leafy lane, mummy. I fear scabies.
ReplyDeleteTwas in fact 01 811 8055 to speak to Noel and swap a used pencil for a Scalextric set
ReplyDeleteHey that's a thought...Did Swapshop ever come to Scarfolk??
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember the phrase 'And 01 if you're outside London!' on kids programmes in my '80s childhood. Usually while someone was being gunked or burned alive.
ReplyDeleteAt the age of eight I strongly suspected this had happened to my Mother. I even confronted her about it. Of course she denied it
ReplyDeleteAnd because these things always go full circle I was replaced by an identical alien replica and my kids have absolutely NO IDEA! Bwa ha ha ha!
ReplyDeleteIs Swap Shop still on in Scarfolk? I want to swap a fishing rod for a Dr feelgood album
ReplyDelete"Please get your parents permission before you use the telephone" is genius.
ReplyDelete