Residents of the sleepy Somerset villages of Claverham, Yatton, Cleeve and Bleadon have been left with a mixture of fear and sympathy by a mysterious figure in black latex-like clothing who has been seen lurking at night. The so-called Somerset gimp first appeared five years ago, prompting a range of reactions from distress to concern, according to local parish council chair Chris Jackson. He said some villagers were worried about encountering the figure late at night, while others felt sympathy for the individual, who may be dealing with personal problems.
The first report was made to police in November 2018, but the gimp shot to wider attention in summer 2019 when a woman photographed a figure in a rubbery suit on Chapel Lane in Claverham. The image sparked global headlines, including a New York Post article that ran with the headline: “Freak dressed in black gimp suit terrorizes UK village”. The story also drew a complaint from the so-called Gimp Man of Essex, who felt the Somerset version was giving the “whole gimp community a bad reputation”.
More sightings followed in summer 2022, including one in Yatton High Street and an encounter in Cleeve in October, where a teenager described the figure as wearing a shiny outfit, flopping to the ground and speaking in a “demon language”. The incident echoed a local 18th-century legend of the ‘Yatton daemoniac’, George Lukins, who was said to be possessed and underwent an exorcism in 1788.
Police scrambled a dog unit and helicopter after one sighting, leading to an arrest and bail conditions restricting the man’s movements between 9pm and 6am. In May this year, a masked man in dark clothing leapt out in front of a vehicle in Bleadon, and officers arrived within three minutes. Joshua Hunt, from a Claverham farming family, was subsequently arrested and charged with public order offences. At Bristol Crown Court in July, District Judge Joanna Dickens imposed an interim sexual harm prevention order, banning him from wearing masks or tight-fitting black clothing in public at night, and specifically from crawling, wriggling or writhing on the ground while wearing a full-body covering.
Hunt has admitted being the masked man in Bleadon in May but denies being the Somerset gimp. No sightings have been reported since May, leaving villagers to wonder whether the figure, who has provoked both fear and sympathy, has disappeared for good.
