# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/21 "2020-05-12T19:34:37Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Even better, do it on a public computer and printer, like at a library or quick-print place. This is how the BTK killer (Dennis Rader) was caught. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/22 "2020-05-12T20:20:16Z")
> [@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. Interesting that of the examples cited in the wiki article, the vast majority are cartoons, comedies, or parodies. This seems to be a parodic trope that has taken on a life of its own far beyond a relatively small number of uses in serious drama. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/23 "2020-05-12T20:22:55Z")
[Be careful about what printer you use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code). ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/24 "2020-05-12T22:24:45Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Aha! This looks like the work of… > > _The Masked Moderator!_ SEND _me_ _a_ bottle of [FONT=“Impact”]SCOTCH[/FONT] [COLOR=“Cyan”]or[/COLOR] **you** \*WILL \*never _see_ **Your** _Thread_ _again._ ---
**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, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/25 "2020-05-12T22:51:44Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > 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. My friend and I were discussing it last night and we figured that between ransoms, ransomers spend all their time cutting out letters and sorting them. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/26 "2020-05-12T23:48:04Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > This is how the BTK killer (Dennis Rader) was caught. Please tell me they traced him through the library card he had to show to use the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/27 "2020-05-13T01:40:09Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s still really hard to find the word “moor” to clip out of a newspaper or magazine. ☹ Not so. Trivially easy. Here ya go: [The mystery of Saddleworth Moor: who was ‘Neil Dovestone’?](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/14/mystery-saddleworth-moor-who-was-neil-dovestone), _The Guardian_, May 14, 2016. Story about a long-unidentified mystery man found dead on the moor. The word “moor” or “Moor” appears 38 times. Truly a modern real-life Sherlock Holmes story! The point being, in these modern times, Google is the ransomer’s friend. ETA: Only difficulty, perhaps, once you’ve found your article, is finding a hard copy to clip. ---
**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 13, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/28 "2020-05-13T11:58:06Z")
You could always simply use a _Ransom Note Font_ > **[43 Free Ransom Note Fonts · 1001 Fonts](https://www.1001fonts.com/ransom-note-fonts.html)** > > We have 43 free Ransom-note Fonts to offer for direct downloading · 1001 Fonts is your favorite site for free fonts since 2001 > **[Ransom Note Font | ℜ𝔸𝐍𝓢ටⱮ Generator | FontSpace](https://www.fontspace.com/category/ransom-note)** > > Ransom note fonts use different styles of type for each letter, making the sentence look mixed or juxtaposed. This style is rooted in clipping out letters from newspaper, and presenting the note to extort a sum of money, while remaining anonymous. ... Of course, you’d want one with lots of alternative letters. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/29 "2020-05-13T13:53:35Z")
> [@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. That second cite calls it a “_largely largely Discredited Trope in modern fiction given the prevalence of computers,telephones and other more convenient forms of covert communication_”. Worth noting in that context that Jussie Smollett (apparently) used that technique when [mailing himself a racist threatening letter](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-jussie-smollett-fbi-20190327-story.html). Presumably he was aiming for something which gave a really threatening vibe, over something which represented what an actual threatening letter might look like these days. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/30 "2020-05-13T14:01:47Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > SEND _me_ _a_ bottle of [FONT=“Impact”]SCOTCH[/FONT] [COLOR=“Cyan”]or[/COLOR] **you** > \*WILL \*never _see_ **Your** _Thread_ _again._ This actually points out that our popular understanding of this kind of note is distinctly different from _Hound of the Baskervilles_. When we picture the typical “ransom note,” it consists of words–or sometimes individual letters–in a wide variety of different sizes, colors, and fonts, as **Colibri** illustrates here. The note in _Hound of the Baskervilles_ took all of its words from the same newspaper–indeed, from the same article!–and Holmes was able to easily identify it as _The Times_ based on the typeface. So the more popular idea of the ransom note as an assemblage of random fonts seems to be an “improvement” on the Holmes original. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/31 "2020-05-13T14:17:55Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Well, my question is, what would the modern way to do this be? [See the 4th Die Hard movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV8FQpc1NlQ). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/32 "2020-05-13T16:36:54Z")
A prank at my high school, years ago: some students kidnapped the Baby Jesus from the town’s life-size Christmas creche display. They left behind a ransom note with clipped-out letters: _We got the kid._ When they returned Baby Jesus a few days later, it was then chained in place by the town to prevent future kidnappings. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/33 "2020-05-13T19:23:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s still really hard to find the word “moor” to clip out of a newspaper or magazine. ☹ Even as a child that bothered me - how hard is it to find an “m”, two "o"s and an “r”? The passage was cut from the _Times_, so there’s your “m”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/34 "2020-05-13T19:56:57Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > Even better, do it on a public computer and printer, like at a library or quick-print place. > > This is how the BTK killer (Dennis Rader) was caught. Actually he was caught when he submitted a floppy disk to police. They recovered a deleted Word file that had metadata identifying a church, last modified by “Dennis.” They found a Dennis who was a member of the church council, and things opened up from there. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/35 "2020-05-15T17:24:14Z")
I vaguely recall some work of fiction depicting someone doing an anonymous note by using a stencil. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Brother\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_brother_1/32/3513_2.png) [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/36 "2020-05-15T17:41:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A prank at my high school, years ago: some students kidnapped the Baby Jesus from the town’s life-size Christmas creche display. They left behind a ransom note with clipped-out letters: _We got the kid._ When they returned Baby Jesus a few days later, it was then chained in place by the town to prevent future kidnappings. Ah, perhaps these pranksters were influenced by Kurt Vonnegut’s critically-despised 1976 novel Slapstick. It features a religious cult that calls itself “The Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped”. This church is founded on the belief that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has already occurred, but that upon coming back to the world, Jesus was kidnapped by the forces of evil. Its members are easily recognized by their habit of constantly turning their heads from side to side and generally peering around wherever they go, searching for signs of the kidnapped Christ. It’s barely on-topic, but I find this concept so satirically hilarious that I can’t resist a chance to mention it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/37 "2020-05-15T17:51:14Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > My friend and I were discussing it last night and we figured that between ransoms, ransomers spend all their time cutting out letters and sorting them. > [@Lumpy](#): > > I vaguely recall some work of fiction depicting someone doing an anonymous note by using a stencil. Robert Graysmith, whom you have to take with a grain of salt, had a theory that the reason the Zodiac’s handwriting never yielded to any kind of analysis, nor matched to samples from suspects, was that he had a master sheet of letters from different people’s handwriting, and traced each letter one by one. Graysmith did have a point that at the time the Zodiac wrote, printing was unusual, and some of his letters looked like normal print, while others looked like they might have been taken from cursive writing; some leaned, and some were upright, and there was remarkable consistently for each letter-- every E looked just like every other E. I don’t know whether I agree with Graysmith (who also thought that the Zodiac had a [lightboard](https://www.pinterest.com/goatdream/light-box-for-tracing-appliques-patterns/), something he, as a political cartoon artist would know of, but not many people are even aware exists); nonetheless, it’s an interesting idea, and a good one to exploit if I ever write a mystery novel. Granted, the Zodiac was 1960s-early 70s, it’s still a lot later than _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. So there’s a more modern idea. If you incorporate a cold lightboard, with LEDs, you have a pretty nice modern idea. You could also hunt up your handwriting examples on the internet, and size your letters as you needed. ---
**Author:** ![CGHJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@CGHJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CGHJ)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/38 "2020-05-15T20:18:31Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Actually he was caught when he submitted a floppy disk to police. They recovered a deleted Word file that had metadata identifying a church, last modified by “Dennis.” They found a Dennis who was a member of the church council, and things opened up from there. On top of that, as BTK he actually asked the cops if they could trace a MS Word doc and they were like, “No! Absolutely not! Totally safe just send it to us right now and there’s absolutely no way to trace you at all.” Not that any of us are about to go out and do crimes, but if you do and you’re concerned about evidence, the police may not be the best people to ask for advice. ---
**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 15, 2020, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618/39 "2020-05-15T23:39:12Z")
Good will always triumph because evil is stupid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-appearance-of-the-clipped-out-font-ransom-note/853618.md?page=1)