Red-Legged Scissor-Man/Great Long-Legged Scissor-Man/The Great Tall Tailor

The Red-Legged Scissor-Man was a bogeyman figure from children’s stories in England and Germany. He was used by Victorian parents to scare their children into behaving, and originated in a book called Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann in 1847. The story follows a boy named Conrad who had a habit of sucking his thumbs. His mother warned him that the Red-Legged Scissor-Man would come for him if he continued. He didn’t believe her and continued sucking his thumb as soon as she left. The Red-Legged Scissor-Man burst in with a giant pair of scissors and cut off both of his thumbs.

Citations:

Rose, Carol. Giants Monsters and Dragons: An Encyclopedia Of Folklore Legend And Myth. United Kingdom, WW Norton, 2001.