h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

General Dan-Yumma Gowon possably

Inspired but in error. The general's name to whom I am referring really was Jack Ripper.

Lublocks

Indeed.

No points then

Maybe. I'll consider it. I sometimes award points retrospectively.

Just kidding

I wasn't.

(is that a clue? Possibly. or is he being cryptic to deliberately lead us astray? Can't be sure...)

he shagged general rippers wife/lover/boyfriend/sex slave/favourite goat

Taff looks on form today

A strange case of collective hallucination. All people on the market place suddenly saw mosquitos everywhere on the guy and tried simultaneously to swat them.

Or was he a very popular singer who got assaulted by swarms of teenage fans?

Or a case of mistaken identity?

I;m sure he looks at my cheat sheet when I'm not looking.

"Adultery" Taff -5

I'll give you a DGI + 1 for "a strange case of collective hallucination."

Not quite right but worth rewarding.

but I'm going to have to deduct 5 for "mistaken identity" - whilst not a crime per se, I did have it down as a klaxonable condition.

Besides it wouldn't explain the spate of similar instances where the same thing happened.

I sensed that mistaken identity was klaxonworthy, but I tried to beat to it.

Glad to get a DGI though

Not another quack doctor?

And what I meant by 'mistaken identity' was that he would have been mistaken for someone who had committed a crime. So the crime wouldn't be the mistaken identity but the one committed by his lookalike.

Which is not it, apparently.

('Committed' takes two t )

No quack doctors.

Yes that's what I understood by it as well.

The murdered person being mistaken for another actual criminal. But as I hinted earlier there were a spate of other killing or near-killings of both men and women.

And the mistake could hardly account for how so many people could be targeted for vengeance as the result of the actions of another.

They were, however, all set upon for the same reason - it's just mistaken identity wasn't it.

P.S I asked the question in the singular to preserve a sense of mystery about the event but in truth it was while not widespread or common, there are several documented incidents

People who get killed (or nearly killed) all stand underneath a tree on which some branches, when looked at from a certain angle, appear to spell 'kill me' in Nigerian?