Yes, in fact, it does. Pull up a chair and your favorite adult beverage.
A few years ago, I'm guessing around 3 years ago (not totally sure of the date), a certain member of this austere fellowship by the name of
@Drygulch , aka Adam, had a certain habit of daring a certain blade Czar by the name of
@NCoxSTL , aka yours truly, into trying various and sundry strange, weird, and potentially dangerous shaving tools. Of course, yours truly often returned the favor and returned dares to Adam of the same nature. One day, when there was relative peace between the two dare combatants, Adam sent yours truly a message about a razor on eBay that was being sold and advertised as haunted. The message included a picture, the listing, and the words "I dare you". The razor looked rather worn and dirty, and the story was pretty interesting about how it had been owned by someone named Matthew who had been killed while in military service and how, since then, it had been possessed and would even fly around the room if not contained in something. Well, how could yours truly resist, right?
So, the bidding began, and yours truly stayed with it and even used a sniping tool to make sure it came home to papa. The bidding went a bit higher than expected but nothing too extreme. Upon arrival the condition of this poor, neglected and reportedly haunted razor was rather depressing.
View attachment 219172
View attachment 219174
View attachment 219173
View attachment 219170
The blade was still in the razor, as you can see, and when yours truly removed it it was clear it had been rusted in place since first inserted. By looking up the blade it was determined that this razor was last used in the early 1950's. So, if the story of its origin is, in fact, true and Matthew did indeed die in the military then Korea was a good possibility. But, I digress.
I cleaned the razor as much as I could, sterilized it, then inserted a new blade and gave it a whirl. I also noticed the difference in the base plate from other Gillete New razors I had seen. This one was a short comb deluxe. Something a bit unusual but not totally uncommon. Still, a bit of added value to a beat up, rather sad looking, though functional, razor.
After using it for a few shaves I returned it to its box where it sat quite comfortably and happy and, I should mention, without flying around the room. I finally contacted Chris at Razorplate.com, who had done a fantastic job of replating a '47 Super Speed for me, and shipped Matthew off to be restored to his golden glory. As I heard no stories of mass destruction, injuries, or death while in the replating room, I assumed that by showing this razor the love it deserved, and restoring it to a useful and proper state in which it was made and for what it was designed, I had either made the spirit within proud and happy, or perhaps it was released and ended up going home to someone one else to torment them. Whatever the case, Matthew has been a welcome and quite stunning member of the Czar's den since that date. Haunted or not, they all lived happily ever after.
Click to expand...
