i heard that the muffin man used to be a real man who was abused as a child and got rewarded with a muffin for letting his father abuse him. so when he grew up he would tie a string to a muffin and trap kids in his bakery and rape, beat, then kill them. Later in England after raping was outlawed he was brought to the king but was soon released and was killed by an angry mob. Some parents (when he was still alive ) would tell the nursery rhyme to their kids as a warining later on Hansel and Gretal was written as another warning based on the muffin man storie.