# First appearance of the clipped out font ransom note. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618 "2020-05-12T02:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/1 "2020-05-12T02:53:37Z")
You know what I’m talking about. When a ransomed sends a ransom note spelled out in various fronts clipped out of various magazines. What was the first appearance of that? Was it a movie? In which case, mods, please move this to cafe. Or was there a real case that this trope was based on? What is this technique even called? Thanks for any helpful leads, or search terms. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/2 "2020-05-12T02:59:27Z")
Unless there’s a pandemic of these notes 🙂 I think this was meant for General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/3 "2020-05-12T03:01:40Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Unless there’s a pandemic of these notes 🙂 I think this was meant for General Questions. Ah crap. I blame severely multitasked phone resources (I’m in video chat as I type) and beers. Yes, totally meant for GQ. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/4 "2020-05-12T03:10:26Z")
[This article](https://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/2013/03/the-case-of-the-cut-paper-ransom-note.html) attributes it to fiction, specifically Arthur Conan Doyle’s _Hound of the Baskervilles_, where the cut-out note was a warning rather than a ransom demand. [This wiki entry](https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Cut_and_Paste_Note)says it’s _HOTB_ as well. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/5 "2020-05-12T03:14:12Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > [This article](https://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/2013/03/the-case-of-the-cut-paper-ransom-note.html) attributes it to fiction, specifically Arthur Conan Doyle’s _Hound of the Baskervilles_, where the cut-out note was a warning rather than a ransom demand. Excellent. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/6 "2020-05-12T03:17:40Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > [This article](https://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/2013/03/the-case-of-the-cut-paper-ransom-note.html) attributes it to fiction, specifically Arthur Conan Doyle’s _Hound of the Baskervilles_, where the cut-out note was a warning rather than a ransom demand. [This wiki entry](https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Cut_and_Paste_Note)says it’s _HOTB_ as well. What keywords did you use to search, if I might ask? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/7 "2020-05-12T03:20:19Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > What keywords did you use to search, if I might ask? first clipped ransom note ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/8 "2020-05-12T03:23:31Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > first clipped ransom note That’s so easy, I never would’ve gotten there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/9 "2020-05-12T03:23:48Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/10 "2020-05-12T05:45:00Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Ah crap. I blame severely multitasked phone resources (I’m in video chat as I type) and beers. Yes, totally meant for GQ. mOv **E** d ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/11 "2020-05-12T09:21:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > mOv **E** d Aha! This looks like the work of… _The Masked Moderator!_ ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/12 "2020-05-12T12:39:59Z")
It’s still really hard to find the word “moor” to clip out of a newspaper or magazine. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/13 "2020-05-12T12:48:23Z")
FWIW, I tried this once in college, (as a joke, I was ransoming someone’s pillow IIRC) and it takes a LONG time to find all the letters you need. I had a stack of Rolling Stone & Time magazines, and I spent over an hour to put a 3 sentence note together. Eventually I gave up and started writing in some of the letters. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/14 "2020-05-12T13:23:28Z")
Well, my question is, what would the modern way to do this be? I know the reasoning to do this is because typewriters have flaws which could be match up similar to gun ballistics, and obviously handwriting could be recognized. And doing it on a computer could leave evidence on the computer. So how would you make an untraceable note today? (we’ll assume fingerprints were avoided). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/15 "2020-05-12T13:46:55Z")
You’d do it on a computer. The evidence on the computer would be on your computer, which wouldn’t be found until after they found you in some other way. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/16 "2020-05-12T13:48:46Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s still really hard to find the word “moor” to clip out of a newspaper or magazine. ☹ It always bothered me that Beryl was just too hurried or lazy to just cut out “mo” and “or” from the paper, or even the letters “m” “o” and “r” and paste them into place. There was time to search through to find the rest of the words to make up the note, but not those, evidently. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/17 "2020-05-12T14:52:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You’d do it on a computer. The evidence on the computer would be on your computer, which wouldn’t be found until after they found you in some other way. Even better, do it on a public computer and printer, like at a library or quick-print place. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/18 "2020-05-12T15:09:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You’d do it on a computer. The evidence on the computer would be on your computer, which wouldn’t be found until after they found you in some other way. Watch out for microdots: > **[Machine Identification Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code)** > > A Machine Identification Code (MIC), also known as printer steganography, yellow dots, tracking dots or secret dots, is a digital watermark which certain color laser printers and copiers leave on every printed page, allowing identification of the device which was used to print a document and giving clues to the originator. Developed by Xerox and Canon in the mid-1980s, its existence became public only in 2004. In 2018, scientists developed privacy software to anonymize prints in order to suppor... I’d also try to use something other than a Microsoft Office product and I’d still probably rearrange the letters of the message so searching the seized PC wouldn’t return phrase match results. Then print, cut & paste. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/19 "2020-05-12T16:06:20Z")
Why even print it? Send it electronically. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/20 "2020-05-12T16:11:36Z")
Sending it electronically can leave even more traces. If it’s send via email, the recipient will be able to see which email servers the message passed through, possibly some information about the sending computer, and even the IP address of the sender. A knowledgable sender can hide some of this but not all of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618.md?page=2)