My fedoras are haunted.

[EVEN-STEVEN]

Hello everyone. New guy, here. Name is Steven. Been floating on the ceiling for a few months, eavesdropping. I am the custodian of approximately twenty previously-owned 7 3/8 – 7 1/2 vintage lids. I’ve picked up much useful hat-data from those assembled, for which I am grateful. I’ve been waiting for just the right opportunity to chime in. It finally happened last night.

I sat bolt upright in bed at 3 A.M. – startled out of deep, deep slumber by a bone-chilling chorus of eerie, echoing, other-worldly voices:

“Give us…. back our…. hats… we want…. our hats….. back…..!”

As the out-of-work sailor once said, it scared me ship-less. Just a dream, you say? Perhaps not. Think about how attached you are to your beloved vintage fedoras. Now imagine how the original owners must feel – watching us hatless from beyond the veil as we claim their property as our own, posing like peacocks for pictures and primping in the mirror… steaming, brushing and bashing their little darling fedorables to our heart’s content. How would you feel if someone copped your lid? Or should I say… how WILL you feel?

Sleep tight tonight, my friends.

I love to speculate on the history of my fedoras. I have a 50’s era Dobbs Twenty originally purchased at Sachs Brothers in Hibbing, Minnesota. I wonder if my Dobbs ever passed little Bobby Zimmerman walking down the street.

Anyway – thanks for having me. Check you cats later. I need to go perform an exorcism on my Barbisio.

 

[J.B.]

...Now imagine how the original owners must feel – watching us hatless from beyond the veil...

So um, who says we're hatless...

...And come to think of it -- who says we're beyond the veil??

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

Yer freakin' me out, man....

 

[J.B.]

To be quite truthful, I have frequently wondered who owned my vintage lids first? Where did they live? What did they look like wearing them? Etc.

I've seen posts in the other forum sections discussing wearing the vintage threads of those who have long since made their transitions. The feelings/opinions of the posters certainly ran the gamut of emotions!

Anyway, welcome to the "Hats" forums.

"Custodian," eh? I like that!

 

[carter]

So um, who says we're hatless...

...And come to think of it -- who says we're beyond the veil??

The previous owners, hatless and beyond the veil, are watching us, I believe.

Better we should bequeath our hats ere we pass over and take but one with us to shelter us from storms and shield us from the noon day sun as we journey onward.

 

[J.B.]

...Better we should bequeath our hats ere we pass over and take but one with us to shelter us from storms and shield us from the noon day sun as we journey onward.

heh. I'm guessing no one in my family would even want one of my hats?! Hopefully, they would put them all back on eBay where they came from and keep 'em circulating.

I can imagine of one my relatives stuffing a propeller beanie, a button beanie, or worse -- a baseball hat -- on me whilst I'm in me repose!

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

Actually, I happen to KNOW that the previous owners are watching us. It only takes our thought of them to make the departed spirits aware of us. In any event, from what I understand of the afterlife, everything is manifested by simple thought. In other words, you only need to think of a steel gray Whippet with a 5 inch crown, 2.5 inch brim, contrasting ribbon and bound edge in a 7 3/8 long oval for it to suddenly appear on your noggin. Convenient, huh? You lose the thrill of the hunt, of course - but what the hey....

 

[surely]

Hmmmm, now what are you boys smoking? ...

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

Absence of proof is not proof of absence.

 

[J.B.]

...everything is manifested by simple thought. In other words, you only need to think of a steel gray Whippet with a 5 inch crown, 2.5 inch brim, contrasting ribbon and bound edge in a 7 3/8 long oval for it to suddenly appear on your noggin....

Yes, all of that, but a Whippet will manifest one heck of a lot more suddenly if you throw in a last-second auction sniperoo for $250 for good measure!

And while we're "thinking" -- don't forget to negate all possibility of the customary five-week surface parcel post delivery for that Whippet in the bed of an egg farmer's pickup truck outta Keokuk, only to be mistakenly passed on to an east-bound sugarbeet salesman bound for Portland, Maine, before finally heading west to Barstow in the underbelly of a Greyhound bus?! :eusa_doh:

 

[duggap]

Avoid spicey foods, especially at bed time.

 

[Nashoba]

fftopic:
beyond the veil....hmm...now that's a term I usually only hear in certain contexts.....


But you aren't crazy . I think it happens to all of us with at least on piece of our vintage collection...

 

[Garrett]

Yes, I've often wondered who the red stains on my late 20's/early 30's wide brims belonged to.....perhaps one of the seven st valentine's day massacre boys?.......

 

[HungaryTom]

If you notice he has also a fedora,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Exorcist_ver2.jpg
now you know why

 

[Dr Doran]

We can turn these beliefs to our advantage. We can troll through communities of folk who believe that their grandparents' suits are haunted and we can get these suits for a song.

We will be rich in suits, dense with ghosts, and personally empty of soul.

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

I have a onfession to make...

I don't really think my fedoras are haunted.

I wanted my first thread to key off the spooky avatar I selected. I thought the photo evoked very nicely the idea of departed spirits who wanted their hats back. Anyhoo... I love speculating on the history of these wonderful objects, as I'm sure a lot of you do. Other lives were lived under our fedoras; lives of laughter, tears, joy and sorrow, through wars and peace, tragedy and triumph - all of it impossible to know.

But it's fun to speculate. For example, I like to think that my 1940s fuzzy grey 3X Beaver Quality Stetson with a mode edge purchased at Mayer-Krom Co. in Milwaukee was once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright. But it was probably owned by Jake Bundy, a bus driver from Oshkosh.

 

[EVEN-STEVEN]

I have a confession to make...

I don't really think my fedoras are haunted.

I wanted my first thread to key off the spooky avatar I selected. I thought the photo evoked very nicely the idea of departed spirits who wanted their hats back. Anyhoo... I love speculating on the history of these wonderful objects, as I'm sure a lot of you do. Other lives were lived under our fedoras; lives of laughter, tears, joy and sorrow, through wars and peace, tragedy and triumph - all of it impossible to know.

But it's fun to speculate. For example, I like to think that my 1940s fuzzy grey 3X Beaver Quality Stetson with a mode edge purchased at Mayer-Krom Co. in Milwaukee was once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright. But it was probably owned by Jake Bundy, a bus driver from Oshkosh.

 

[Dr Doran]

I do get this feeling from my 1940s suits (well, one in particular), but I get it more from old photographs, particularly the cardboard-backed, often foldout professional portrait photographs that I buy for $3 from my favorite antique store. I cannot help but to stare at the faces and think about the people. They are all dead now. It's really a bit sad.

 

[mingoslim]

I actually have a plan for the hereafter . . .

Since I know my 7 3/8 and 7 1/2s are a rare commodity, I do not plan to be buried in them . . . Let me kids sell them and make some money . . . cause I will have little else to leave them . . .

What I am going to do is this: I am going to buy me the best looking vintage Stetson or Borso in a 6 1/2 one of these days . . . in that small size, it should be pretty cheap. I figure once the flesh has gone the way of all flesh, a 6 1/2 should fit my skull pretty well

 

[Dr Doran]

Since I know my 7 3/8 and 7 1/2s are a rare commodity, I do not plan to be buried in them . . . Let me kids sell them and make some money . . . cause I will have little else to leave them . . .

What I am going to do is this: I am going to buy me the best looking vintage Stetson or Borso in a 6 1/2 one of these days . . . in that small size, it should be pretty cheap. I figure once the flesh has gone the way of all flesh, a 6 1/2 should fit my skull pretty well

A little gross, but I respect your wishes.

If I have a son who is my size and can wear my stuff, AND WHO WANTS TO, I'll be overjoyed. Cremate me in a sheet so that my son will think about me when he wears his dad's hats. Which will be REALLY REALLY vintage by the time he is a man. (To his generation, Nike shoes will be vintage too. So will Nirvana.)