Originally Completed January 10th, 2023
Uploaded on June 27th, 2023
On the night of October 31st, 1994, I came face to face with something that I still struggle to properly explain. For three years up to that crisp Halloween evening, a spate of unusual animal mutilations, an attempted kidnapping, and other unexplained events dominated the headlines in the sleepy town of Euryale, Ohio. It started during my senior year of high school, way back in 1991. Can’t believe that was so long ago now. I remember my dad reading the newspaper that day, October 14th. I sat down for a bowl of cereal and asked him what was going on, and he flipped the newspaper around to show me:
Grisly Scene of Animal Mutilation (from the Euryale Caller, October 14th, 1991)
Yesterday, passersby on West Northrop Street were greeted by a gory scene. In the empty lot between North Star Video and West Street Pizza, the bodies of two dogs and a cat were discovered, with a circular hole drilled into their skulls. According to the Sheriff’s office, the animals’ skulls were completely empty, and there were frozen patches in their skin. Nobody knows who or what mutilated these animals, but the perfectly circular holes make it seem like it is likely man made. When asked about the possibility that this is Satanic in nature, Sheriff Eisenhower said “We cannot rule out that possibility. Similar reports of animal mutilations have come out of Satanic ritual circles in other towns around the country. However, we should not jump to conclusions too quickly.”
It was shocking, definitely not the kind of thing that happens in a town like ours, but it wasn’t anything that would stop me from just going about my day. My dad and I had a short chat about what kind of messed up guy could’ve done something like that. I think he said something about the first step of a serial killer being hurting animals or something, and then I just left for school.
I didn’t think about it much for the next three years, if I’m being honest. When there’s a new little pile of animal corpses each week, they just melt away into the background. It was surprising when a new kind of animal turned up dead, though. I remember being real shocked when all the horses that got brought into town for a hayride in September were found collapsed to the ground with their eyes, brains, and tongue missing. But nobody ever got caught doing it. They couldn’t even find any damn fingerprints on the animals. ‘Course, I now know why, but at the time it just made it so damn mysterious. People got real paranoid about it, and the Satanic ritual animal mutilation thing really caught on. I was already out of high school when they started doing it, but eventually they even had cops and “experts” come in to tell the kids about the dangers of, I don’t know, Dungeons and Dragons and metal music, I guess? They had no clue what they were talking about.
What got me to actually pay attention happened three years into the borehole mutilations. I ended up getting a job at North Star Video, mostly ‘cause I was really into movies and needed the money. Anyway, it was September 1st, and we were decorating for the Halloween season. In addition to the fake cobwebs, orange and black streamers, and cheesy paper cutouts of Dracula, our boss at North Star came up with this great idea to make the security cameras get into the spooky spirit too. He bought these cheap rubber pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, with the mouth gaping wide open for the lens of the camera to poke out through. So me and my coworker Daniel put the fake pumpkins on all the cameras, the ones outside too, the boss got real worried because of how many animal mutilations happened in the empty lot next to his store, then we finished up the rest of the decorating. I went home, but Daniel had the late shift, for the stoners and horror fans who needed something to watch at 10 PM.
When I came in the next day, Daniel had this wild look in his eyes. He said there was something I had to see. Plopping me down in the chair behind the store’s front desk, he put in a tape, labeled September 1st, 1994 in frantic scribbled sharpie. Fast forwarding for a bit, breathing heavily, he got to the part he wanted to show me. It was the camera outside, the one pointed in the direction of the empty lot. I asked if it was just gonna be a couple of teenagers daring each other to hang out in the Bloody Pumpkin Patch, that was what teens had taken to calling it since there were always unkempt pumpkins growing there. He shook his head no and just pointed.
Under his fingertip, hidden in the blurry black and white noise of the security camera, I saw… something. I couldn’t really tell what it was. It was hunkered down in the farthest corner of the empty lot, on the pizzeria side, the shadows cast by the orange streetlights in the depths of the lot hiding most of whatever the hell it was. But what I could see were its hands. There weren’t just two. There had to have been like, at least five hands that I could make out, spindly fingers splayed out like the bony fins of a fish. Once he was sure that I saw it over there in the shadows behind the pizzeria, Daniel unpaused the recording. The arms swayed, like a flower in the wind. They didn’t seem locked together, they didn’t seem to be embracing. Eventually, two bony feet poke out from the shadows and into the streetlamp light.
I chuckled and joked that it was probably some horny teens doing a group make out in the pumpkin patch, the arms we were seeing just looked weird ‘cause of the lighting. He just fast forwarded the video, passed by another hour of security footage at least, and pressed play. After a few moments, the high beams of a car passed over the empty lot, suddenly revealing what was hidden by the shadows. I could still only make out parts of it, the rest hidden by visual noise and streaks in the tape, but what I saw put to rest my rationalizations. It was a gaunt face with wide owl-like eyes, staring absentmindedly forward, all other features, whatever features it might have, obscured by visual noise. Daniel sat down on the counter next to the TV, and we just sat there in silence for a good bit, staring at the surreal image shoved away in the opposite corner of the empty lot.
I asked “What the fuck was that?” He just shrugged his shoulders and rewound the video.
“You know as much as I do, man. I just saw the recording this morning.” Pressing play, we rewatched the gentle swaying of the thing’s gaunt hands in the shadows.
“And it wasn’t out there this morning? No sign of it?”
“Nope, nothing at all. Not even any damn footprints, nada. Like it was just a damn glitch in the video, or, I dunno, a ghost or something.”
“You can’t be serious man, it isn’t a ghost.”
“What the fuck else could it be dude? It looks like something out of Ghostbusters!”
“Real life isn’t a fucking movie dude!”
“Look at it!” He stabbed at the screen right as the car’s passing headlights lit up the thing’s horrible face again. He ran his fingers through his hair and hopped down from the counter. “I… I gotta go home man, this is just, it’s freaking me the fuck out dude.”
“Well that’s fine, your shift’s done anyway.”
“No dude, like, I need to take the day off, like not even work the late shift even. Could you cover for me? Keep an eye on the security cameras?”
“Sure, man, but you owe me one, aight?”
“Yeah, I owe you one.” Picking up his bag, Daniel strode out the doors of North Star Video with just a sheepish little wave.
That’s how I remember the conversation going, anyway. I told the boss that Daniel needed to take the day off because of a family emergency, didn’t want to freak him out with the security cam footage. Just sat behind the counter and checked people out for movies they wanted to rent, from 9 AM to 10 PM. Only took breaks for lunch, dinner, and to get an energy drink from the convenience store down the street. Throughout the day, I’d check the security cameras, ‘specially the one facing the empty lot. Saw some strange fleeting movements on the edges of the camera at points during the day, but explained them away as pigeons, gulls, or raccoons. Wasn’t until the last hour of my shift that I saw that awful thing again.
I remember I had just checked out a tape of Phantasm to these two twenty something girls, and started closing up for the night. That’s when I heard it, that horrible scratching and scraping sound, like a rusty screw being dragged over a chalkboard. It reverberated through the air behind the counter, took me a bit to place it but it was coming from the back wall, the one that faced the empty lot, the Bloody Pumpkin Patch. I put my ear up to the wall and heard its terrible vibrations sent through the bricks. Turning around from the wall, that’s when I saw it. That horrible awful thing was back in the security camera. I figured it had to have its face shoved right up against the rough red bricks on the video store side of the lot, its arms pointed at the bricks themselves. It was all the way on the edge of the camera, partially cut off at the edge of the screen, but I could still tell that awful thing was there.
I rushed out to the empty lot, and I didn’t see a thing! Nothing was there! That multi-armed monster wasn’t there, nobody was there! I ran back into the store and checked the camera again, and sure enough, it was still there, and the awful grating sound was still there. It filled my ears like water, it just wouldn’t get out. I ran back outside, just to make sure, and it still wasn’t there. Thoroughly panicking now, I finished closing up and left about half an hour early. I didn’t want to have to think about it anymore, but the sound, the awful sound, and that awful thing not even being there didn’t leave my mind the whole night.
I showed the video to Daniel the next day, and we talked about it some more. Didn’t really come to any conclusions, of course. He started feeling nauseous and had to go outside to get some air. Talking it over with him, I decided to try and get more info about what was going on with the empty lot, since you know, knowing is half the battle, isn’t it? I spent the next two months scouring newspapers, library books, and the web sites that were around back then. Before I explain what happened Halloween night, 1994, here are some of the most important discoveries that I made in my research.
Animal Mutilations Continue (from the Euryale Caller, October 19th, 1991)
Since the discovery of three mutilated pets on West Northrop last week, four more animals have been found with similar wounds. Three were stray cats, and one was a seagull, all with perfectly circular holes drilled into their skulls. Sheriff Eisenhower had this to say about the discovery: “Whosoever is attempting to threaten or shock our community with these displays of brutality will be found. Such actions to animals, and the public display of their corpses, are illegal, and morally reprehensible, and the fine men at the Euryale Police Department will find you.” He also added “and, cat owners, please remember to spay and neuter your pets.”
A Seasonal Surprise (from the Euryale Caller, October 21st, 1991)
Despite the terror of the recent events on West Northrop Street, there is still good seasonal cheer to be had! The empty lot has rapidly turned into an impromptu pumpkin patch, with some of the largest pumpkins the city has seen growing in the abandoned ground. Stephen Mendoza, current owner of the lot and surrounding business locations, encourages families to come by West Northrop Street for a free pumpkin to carve this Halloween season, and to check out the numerous shops that downtown Euryale has to offer!
Doggone in Downtown (from the Euryale Caller, October 25th, 1991)
Three dachshunds were found dead, their skulls drilled into and all of their teeth and tongues removed, in the empty lot on West Northrop Street yesterday. The beloved pets of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer on Shadowlawn Lane, the three pups went missing earlier this week before turning up at the empty lot, in similar disarray to previously discovered animals. Sheriff Eisenhower had this to say: “The disappearance of the Mortimers’ dogs and the continuing mutilations indicate that this is the act of an organized group, perhaps one deeply interested in the occult. We cannot at this time declare the intentions of the group, but the inscrutable patterns made by the poor dogs’ bodies imply something more than pranksters. My condolences go out to the Mortimers, who lost three good boys today.”
[The above piece was corrected in the following edition, the editors retitling it due to “concerns over possibly perceived disrespect” in the original title.]
Attempted Child Kidnapping! (from the Euryale Caller, November 1st, 1991)
Local girl Callie O’Hare, age 12, reported that last night, while she was trick or treating with her mother at the shops downtown, she felt a hand attempt to yank her into an alleyway by the cape of her vampire costume. Neither she nor her mother saw the assailant, but Penelope O’Hare, who was holding Callie’s hand at the time, felt the tug as well. According to Callie, she felt fingers caress her neck, and in her words, “it was colder than January!” The O’Hare’s reported the attempted kidnapping to the police right away, and took their daughter home to eat her Halloween candy. Sheriff Eisenhower, when reached for comment, said that the attempt was under investigation and that a connection to the escalating animal mutilations could not be ruled out. He also urged parents to be extra careful with their children on Halloween.
The O’Hares were family friends of my mom and dad, and I actually remembered that Callie’s attempted kidnapping was big news at the time. Even in 1994, three years later, it still loomed large. Sheriff Eisenhower had used the publicity around the kidnapping to petition the city council for more funding and got it:
Increased Funding for Euryale PD (from the Euryale Caller, December 15th, 1991)
The Euryale city council has voted 5 to 2 to increase the budget of the Euryale Police Department by $350,000. This comes after the recent spate of animal mutilations, the attempted kidnapping of Callie O’Hare, and a rise in vandalism around town. Sheriff Eisenhower thanked the city council personally for the increase, which he says “will be put to good use tracking down the punks and thugs terrorizing this community.”
I got my mom to ask Callie’s mom Penelope to let me meet with her. I made up some story about how I was interested in trying to submit some writing to the newspaper as a column and said that I wanted to interview Callie to ask about bullying at her high school. I ended up interviewing Callie on September 12th.
Excerpt from Interview with Calliope O’Hare (September 12th, 1994)
“...So now that we’re done with that subject, there was actually something else I wanted to ask you about.”
CALLIE: “What’s that?”
“It, uh, has to do with what happened three years ago.”
CALLIE: “Oh. I don’t know if I really want to talk about it…”
“It’s alright, you don’t have to answer any questions you don’t feel comfortable with.”
CALLIE: “Alright then, I guess…”
“Could you describe, to the best of your memory, what happened Halloween night 1991?”
CALLIE: “Someone I didn’t see grabbed me from behind and tried to yank me into an alleyway down on West Northrop… I felt them pulling on the cape of my costume and um… felt their uh, fingers on the back of my neck.”
“You and your mom didn’t see who tried to grab you, but did anyone you know see who it could be?”
CALLIE: “Well, Billy told me in school later that week that he saw what tried to grab me but I didn’t believe him.”
“Billy?”
CALLIE: “Billy Hofstadter, he was in the seventh grade.”
“You said he claims to have seen what tried to grab you? Not who?”
CALLIE: “He said it was a monster! Even though he was a year older than me, Billy was always more of a kid.”
“Did he say what this monster looked like?”
CALLIE: “I don’t know… He said it had a lot of arms, I remember that, but not much else.”
“To connect back to our larger topic, did it feel like he was bullying you, making fun of you?”
CALLIE: “Well yeah at first, I was so mad that he’d poke fun at me when I was just almost kidnapped! But I realized he was being dead serious.”
“Did anyone bully you after the incident?”
CALLIE: “No, most people were pretty supportive… Lots made fun of Billy though, once he started being more open about what he saw… I don’t think he deserved that really.”
“Now, back when the incident happened you said that the fingers of whatever, whoever it was that tried to kidnap you uh… you said they were ‘colder than January,’ what did you mean by that?”
CALLIE: “What do you think I meant?”
“Well, could you elaborate?”
CALLIE: “I… I just… it felt like the little patches of my skin were dunked in, I don’t know, the ocean down in Antarctica. It was so, so cold… I uh… I don’t show people these, very often, but I know you and we’re… on the topic of it, I guess so…”
[Here, Callie turned away from me and lifted up her hair. On the back of her neck were five little bluish grey spots with flakey skin all around.]
“What is that?”
CALLIE: “Don’t know… My mom didn’t know. No doctors know either. It’s like my skin got freezer burned permanently.”
[She turned back to face me.]
CALLIE: “That’s what I got out of that whole ordeal. That and, the idea of… of getting taken away… I don’t want to get taken away, I hate the idea that whoever tried to grab me is still out there watching me and, and it’s just, it’s just so scary, it’s so scary…”
[At this point, she started tearing up. I attempted to console her, but Penelope came into the room and saw me with my hand on her daughter as she was gently crying, and got angry at me upsetting her. She asked me to leave and I obliged, apologizing to Callie on the way out.]
Billy Hofstadter was another lead. I tried to find him, but it turned out his family moved away in 1993. According to his friends, it was because he was being ruthlessly bullied. I couldn’t find him for an interview, but I found him online. This was only a year after the ‘net even became widely publicly available, but I had been an early adopter and, it seems, so was Billy. He must have fled to the safety of the early internet, fled the bullying and the loss of his friends when his family moved away. Turns out he had a personal site where, among other things, he posted an account of what he had seen.
I Know What I Saw (uploaded to Billy Hofstadter’s website August 16th, 1994)
Three years ago I saw what tried to take Callie O’Hare. Some of you might not know who that is, if you’re from the Columbus area though I can’t see how you wouldn’t. According to the official story, she was almost kidnapped by someone that her and her mom didn’t see, on Halloween night 1991. But I saw it. Everyone at school made fun of me for talking about it, called me a weirdo and a nerd and a schizo, but I knew what I saw.
I was across the street from her at the time, in this costume I made with a pumpkin for a head and big claw gloves. I heard her yelp when she was yanked back, and looked over and saw it. It was taller than Callie’s mom, and so pale white. It had so many arms, swaying in the air like underwater. Its face was terrible. Big wide eyes and a little tiny lipped mouth that had the tiny tips of teeth poking out. It was grabbing Callie by the cape of her vampire costume, and she was trying to pull out from its grasp. I don’t think it saw me. Its eyes were looking at me but they didn’t look like they had anything behind them. Just sorta staring. I still remember that awful awful awful face.
I don’t know if it was a ghost or a demon or an alien or whatever but I know what I saw.
In the next few years after the Callie incident, the strange events surrounding the Bloody Pumpkin Patch down on West Northrop street continued:
Total Count of Animal Mutilations by Year and Type (October 14th 1991 to October 1st 1994)
1991:
7 dogs, 12 cats, 6 seagulls, 11 pigeons, 3 rabbits
1992:
13 dogs, 26 cats, 14 seagulls, 25 pigeons, 4 horses, 4 rabbits, 1 raccoon
1993:
4 dogs, 21 cats, 21 seagulls, 36 pigeons, 12 rabbits, 3 raccoons
1994:
6 dogs, 15 cats, 32 seagulls, 34 pigeons, 13 rabbits, 4 raccoons
Sheriff and Humane Society Urge Keeping Pets Indoors (from the Euryale Caller, July 14th, 1992)
With the end of the animal mutilation epidemic nowhere in sight, the Euryale PD and Central Ohio Humane Society have come together in urging all pet owners to keep their furry friends indoors. No more leashing your dog up in the yard, and no more outdoor cats! This policy is until further notice.
Satanic Graffiti in Downtown Euryale (from the Euryale Caller, July 26th, 1992)
Pentagrams! Goats! The mark of the beast! All these dark and terrible symbols have recently been emblazoned on the sides of businesses in downtown Euryale, especially in the empty lot on West Northrop street. Sheriff Eisenhower vowed to catch the delinquents that are to blame for the flurry of graffiti.
Anti-Satanism Rally Downtown (from the Euryale Caller, August 2nd, 1992)
Local group Parents for a Safe Euryale hosted an anti-Satanic event in downtown yesterday, protesting the continuing Satanist threat to Euryale. A major speaker at the event was Penelope O’Hare, mother of Calliope, who was almost kidnapped last year. Mrs. O’Hare gave an impassioned speech where she called out the people who have been terrorizing this community for the past year and stated her belief that “those monsters who tried to take my Callie away, they wanted to use her in their ritual abuse, maybe even kill her like they’ve been doing to all the animals around town. Well I just have one thing to say to you: you’re not going to get away with it!”
Teen Vandals Found! (from the Euryale Caller, August 6th, 1992)
The teenagers behind the satanic graffiti around downtown from last month have been arrested and charged with vandalism. High school students Kyle Burbank, Joseph Chen, and Bri Young are likely to face a fine and community service time when taken to court later this month. However, despite Sheriff Eisenhower’s efforts, nothing connects the three teens with the spate of animal mutilations that have plagued this town for the past year. The ultimate cause of the crisis remains to be seen.
Forensic Expert Weighs in on Animal Mutilations (from the Euryale Caller, September 23rd, 1992)
With the recent shocking killing of the town’s four autumn hayride horses, injuries identical to those of the dozens of other mutilations that have plagued this town for the past year, the Euryale Caller reached out to professor of forensic science at Ohio State University Gary Turnbull for some insight into the mysterious massacres in this special editorial. We here at the Euryale Caller encourage reader discretion, given the nature of the topic discussed.
On why these animals might be being targeted:
“Well, killing animals is not uncommon for a sociopathic or psychopathic personality. The issue with the Euryale animal mutilations is that there does not seem to be a distinct pattern to the killings, other than them being animals that are common around the downtown area, namely stray cats and dogs, pets, and some birds. It’s hard to pinpoint any clear motivation when there’s no distinct pattern.”
On the recent horse mutilations:
“The horses are much more curious. Since they were a more prominent target, what with them being brought in especially for hayrides, it may indicate an intention to intimidate the community. The killings of pest animals and strays don’t fit that, but it may explain the horses.”
What do you think they may be using to kill the animals?
“That’s hard to say. While there isn’t a pattern to which animals are targeted, the injuries are surprisingly consistent. Small frostbitten spots, superficial really, paired with a single perfectly circular borehole through the skull and all of the contents of the skull, including brain, eyes, tongue, all removed. My immediate thought is that the perpetrators would have to be using some kind of power tool, like a drill with a wide drill bit, but I think it would be very difficult to hold down a dog, or a horse for that matter, and drill into it. At the very least it would require a group of people to pull off, but there have been no signs of significant struggle and no fingerprints found on any of the animals. And I have no idea what may have caused the spots of frostbite.”
Do you have any possible leads on who may be doing this or why?
“Well, I’m not the police. But even if I were, I don’t think I would. I’ve seen some people there in Euryale saying it’s a satanic group, and I guess there’s a chance of that, but it seems unlikely to me. I really have no idea.”
The Strangest Pumpkin Yet (from the Euryale Caller, October 25th, 1992)
Last year, when pumpkins started growing in the empty lot on West Northrop street, they were made freely available to any families who might want a pumpkin to carve. This year, the offer stands; but fewer families are taking it. Children have been put off by the appearance of increasingly unusual pumpkins, including one gourd which looks strangely like a ghoulish face!
Frozen Brain Found Under Bridge (from the Euryale Caller, January 6th, 1993)
What appeared to be the brain of a dog was found frozen solid beneath the bridge connecting West Northrop and the highway. With the mysterious events that have been plaguing the town for the past year and a half, this brain befuddlement just adds another thing to everyone’s plate. It is unclear to what individual animal the organ belonged, but Sheriff Eisenhower is sure it connects to the satanic animal mutilation scare.
I also tried to read up on everything to do with the paranormal, I was certain there was a pattern here that connected with that awful thing we saw in the security camera, but I just didn’t have a clue what it could do other than kill animals and no clue what could stop it. Higher dimensions, psychic phenomenon, ghosts, making a circle of salt to keep out evil spirits, hell even Project Blue Book and Project Tuatara, I figured there had to have been something out there relevant to this thing. I never really reached any conclusion, but I got a big container of salt and some holy water just in case. What I did connect was the significance of pumpkins. Pumpkins started growing in the empty lot after the first animal mutilations, I saw the thing through a pumpkin on the security camera, Billy Hofstadter saw it through his pumpkin mask, there were weird pumpkins growing like humanoid faces in the empty lot, I knew this thing had something to do with pumpkins. With the security camera and the Hofstadter report as my basis, I got a pumpkin big enough to fit my head in, snagged it from the empty lot next to North Star Video actually, and carved it into a jack-o-lantern.
Whatever this thing was, it was getting bolder. Ever since ‘91 there were more and more animals killed, and while nothing was as scary as when it tried to snatch Callie or when it killed those horses, I figured it would try again. The least I could do, I figured, was protect the kids in my hometown. So, with my research and a plan prepared, I set out on Halloween night to do just that.
Here’s what my plan was: I would wear the pumpkin like a mask, so I could still see the thing. It was Halloween so I figured I could pass as someone going to a party or something. I’d have the salt and the holy water, which I figured I could rely on for spiritual self defense, and a pocket knife just in case that would work on it. I would just linger around the empty lot on West Northrop, where I knew the creature must be centered on since everything tied back to it, and warn kids away so that what almost happened to Callie wouldn’t happen for real this time.
The night of October 31st, 1994 came and I went out with my jack-o-lantern on my head, all prepared to camp out there for hours to keep the trick or treaters safe. I won’t lie, I think there was a part of me that felt a little pride in actually knowing what was going on and trying to do something about it to protect the kids, felt like I was doing more than the satanic panic people were. Anyway, I got down to the empty lot and… I came face to face with it.
It was even worse in person than it was on the fuzzy screen. I had never actually seen the whole thing before. On the camera it was hidden partially in shadow, only an arm here or an eye there poking out into the faint streetlight or the light of a passing car. I finally saw it. It was seven, maybe eight feet tall, and pale as a sheet of paper. Its legs were so long and skinny, barely skin and bones even, with bony feet that looked like they barely even touched the ground. On top of its pallid torso, all the ribs starkly visible, was a flower of gently swaying pulsating skeletal arms with a terrible ghoulish face in the center. Ten arms in total, a sea anemone of waving limbs. Its eyes were piercing but had nothing behind them. Like a blind animal always staring out. A deep sea owl.
When I first saw it it was standing next to one of the street lights, looming over a little boy with his mom trick or treating. I rushed over and interrupted the mom talking to her son and tried to convince them to cross the street. I could hear the thing’s haggard watery breathing, the feeling of icy cold water spewed out of ribcage gills crawling down my hoodie. I could tell the mom thought I was crazy, but she ended up crossing the street anyway, furtively glancing back at me over her shoulder. I didn’t really care if I looked crazy so long as I got kids to safety.
I looked up at it and it was staring at me. It didn’t reach for me or anything but it was staring at me. I tried to shoo it away and got it to move off from the streetlight. A couple more families trick or treating with their kids that I got to cross the street to the side away from the thing. It just silently stared at me with its mane of arms gently swaying in the crisp fall wind. I felt it get closer to me, ice crystals forming on my feet, causing me to panic and kick off the ice, brandishing my pocket knife in an effort to push the creature back. I saw several more parents whispering to their kids and rushing them along as they saw what, to their eyes, was presumably a crazy person wearing a pumpkin on their head yelling at thin air and brandishing a knife. I ended up getting the creature back into the empty lot, and decided to cover the open side of the lot with a line of salt, to try and contain it.
It didn’t do anything to stop me. Just stared. Honestly, the staring eyes were even worse than any actual thing it could have done to me. I didn’t even know what it could do. Or, at least, I didn’t at first. While I was laying down the salt line, a crow flew into the empty lot and landed on a pumpkin. To my horror and disgust, I saw the thing reach down with one of its ten terrible arms and, with another, drill into the skull of the poor bird. Its fingertip turned into a round spinning bore. I lifted the pumpkin off my face for just a moment to see what the whole process even looked like and… jesus christ, it still fucks me up to this day to remember this, I just saw the crow floating in midair, its black feathers contrasted against the pale bricks on the back of the empty lot, spewing blood and brain matter from its tiny bird skull. And in an instant, the crow was dead, falling to the ground, splattering on a pumpkin on the way down. When I put the pumpkin back on, the thing had just returned to absentmindedly swaying in the wind, no different than it was before it… devoured? the crow. I don’t even know if it ate it, I have no idea what or why it did that it just… did it.
Anyway, I guess after about an hour and a half of me pushing parents to walk on the other side of the road, yelling at nothing, brandishing a knife, and pouring salt on the ground, someone reported me to the cops. A while after the thing killed that crow a cop showed up and started talking to me. I tried to explain to him what I was doing but he just looked at me funny. I avoided mentioning the looming monster that I was dealing with but even without that it just made no sense and he ended up arresting me. There were still kids out trick or treating and I had no idea if the salt line would even really contain the thing but I was being taken away for questioning.
I was antsy and nervous, panicking because I had just realized that there was an invisible terror, a horror nobody could see or even deal with, that had been terrorizing the town for three years and had almost kidnapped a kid and would do it again any day now, and here I was in a jail cell for the night not able to do anything about it. Sheriff Eisenhower himself questioned me. I don’t remember everything he asked me but one bit stuck out, still sticks with me to this day.
“None of your excuses will get you out of this, boy. We already had our eyes on you after you made Callie cry.”
“What? How did you find out about that?” I retorted.
“None of your concern. People care about their kids in this town, y’hear? Nobody took well to your little stunt out there, and nobody has been taking well to your prying either. I need you to answer for what’s been going on, this town needs you to.”
“But I didn’t do anything! I was trying to protect our kids!”
“Hanging out with a pumpkin on your head near where there have been Satanic animal mutilations and an attempted kidnapping are not things that you do to protect kids. I don’t care if we find your fingerprints on anything or not, you have something to do with all this. I know you do.”
That’s what I remember, anyway. It may have just been his attempt to intimidate me, but it struck me as so true. The cops and the moms and everyone didn’t care if I actually did anything, and I didn’t! There was no proof! I even got dragged into court for the next couple months, just removed from life until December, sitting in the courthouse in the county seat while lawyers talked about shit they didn’t know a single thing about. And I couldn’t say anything about it, it was either keep silent about what I really saw and hopefully get by on the lack of definitive evidence or talk about the creature I saw and have everyone see me as a madman. The jury declared me innocent on the charges but that didn’t matter, not to the cops and the moms and everyone else. Nobody in Euryale trusted me anymore. Sheriff Eisenhower got what he wanted; he got reelected that November on his “hard on Satanism” platform, using me as a scapegoat. I even lost my damn job at North Star Video. I had to go, the town forced me out all for trying to do what I could to protect people. I moved out in February 1995 and have never been back.
I knew that that creature was still there. Nothing had changed. From what my mom and dad told me, the animal mutilations never stopped. And then it reached a peak in 1998 when some kid, Sally Washington, disappeared without a trace. I knew what happened to her, but none of them would listen. They gave up on me and I gave up on them. This is the first time I’ve ever told anyone about this. Just had to get it off my chest.
Poke the eye to go back to the homepage!