A man in a ‘gimp suit’ has been terrorising the local community in a part of North Somerset, with one person describing his experience with the man as ‘freaky’.
That sounds to be putting it quite mildly, to be quite honest with you.
Anyway, the 19-year-old man came into contact with the man in Cleeve at just after midnight on Tuesday, stating that the man was ‘unpredictable, flopping to the floor, writhing and grunting’.
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Now, a man in his 30s has been arrested and bailed on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.
Others have reported seeing someone in a similar get-up, which includes a black bodysuit and a mask, in nearby villages such as Claverham and Yatton back in 2019, 2021 and this year.
Of course, lockdown was quite tough on us all, but this seems a bit extreme.
The teenager who reported this latest sighting – and took the frankly bizarre pictures that we have for this article – said: "I don't want this guy to be seen as a bogey man... but this kind of thing, this invisible threat that he could be anywhere… it's indirectly causing fear.
"It's not just about the encounter, but the effect it has in waves through the community. It's quite gut-wrenching.”
The witness, who – for perhaps obvious reasons remains anonymous – said he thought the person was drunk at first, before the man ‘took a step up on the pavement, arched his body and flopped to the ground, without putting his hands out to catch himself’.
Go figure.
He noticed that the man had blue gloves on and a full bodysuit which was covered in muck.
"His outfit was shiny with some sort of liquid and he was glistening in the torchlight and he smelt really earthy,” the man said.
"After he had gone... you could still smell it.”
At first, the teenager said that he was super scared, but then the ‘absurdity’ of what had just happened set in and ‘tore through the tension’ and allowed him to laugh about it.
Still, they did express some concern that people could be ‘psychologically damaged’ if they were to have their own encounter with the strange man.
The man – who was with a friend at the time – said that if he was alone he might have experienced the situation differently, which seems fair to say.
Avon and Somerset Police said that the force is ‘keeping an open mind about the intentions of the man and whether the incident is linked to any others’.
Amongst the conditions of the arrested man’s bail is that he must remain at home between the hours of 9pm and 6am each night and present himself to a police officer upon request.
Tom Wood