Monthly archives: October 2015

The Halloween Man
Art by Brad Hicks for the OctoberNomicon Art Contest

The Halloween Man appears as a very tall, stick-thin figure, bent and arthritic. He dresses in tattered black dress clothes including high collared tuxedo coat with tails, spats, dress gloves, and an unusually tall and thin stovepipe top hat, bent and battered like the rest of his clothes. Where a face should be is nothing but blackness, out of which burn two pupiless fiery eyes and a jagged glowing jack o’lantern mouth. An old carved jack o’lantern turnip sways from a rusty chain in one hand, green hellfire and sulfuric smoke wafting from its blazing features; over his shoulder the Halloween Man carries a large black sack. Like the Halloween version of Santa Claus, he visits children on Halloween night, but snatches them up in his sack and carts them off to his lair, never to be seen again. His pockets are stuffed with sweet Halloween treats to help ensnare children: candy apples, chocolates, candy corn, etc. Continue reading »

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“We got a call that some kids didn’t come home after being out late. Turns out they’d been going down County 12, near the old Fletcher place. I hadn’t really thought much about it after the raid all those years ago when he disappeared under, undisclosed circumstances.

When we got there, the land was overgrown, the plants were all too big, bloated. It stank like hell too, rotten and kind of like old sweat. I walked over to an apple hanging by the side of the road. It was huge, dark and it look like something was squirming under the skin.

I reached out and held it, gave it a little squeeze with my thumb. It just popped open and blood came gushing out. I yelled like hell, Jake pulled his pistol, and that’s when the bad shit started happening.”–Excerpt from intake interview of Henry Thompson, Sheriff of Benner County Louisiana: performed by Gregory Reynolds, Chief Alienist, Benner County Hospital.

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“Ever since Ana got tangled up in that giant rose bush, she would scratch at that arm.  When Spring came and she began to wear short-sleeved blouses, we were shocked to see the bruise was still visible.

Then the nightmares began.  She would moan and cry out in her sleep.  Soon, she was barely sleeping at all; her eyes were puffy and dark and she would flinch at the slightest sound.

She told us she would dream of walking in a thickly wooded area, among plants that grew either too large or small and twisted, bearing fruit that was bloated or shriveled.  This image was all too familiar.  She would hear a strangled scream, a wet tearing sound, then see a duplicate of herself stride from the foliage, chewing at a hank of flesh it held in its hand.  This creature would look into Ana’s eyes, smile and say ‘You and Me.’

The clipping service we employed to provide us with ‘unusual’ articles began to send more and more stories about murders and cannibalism in rural areas, committed by a woman.  The locations of these, though initially nearly two-thousand miles away, were slowly moving in our direction.  Early eyewitness reports stated she was nude and said only ‘You and Me.’

Soon, the articles indicated this woman was wearing clothing and was screaming disjointed information.  This made no sense to witnesses, but we recognized this was information that the previous victims would know-details about farming, automotive mechanics, etc.

Then this mystery woman killed someone on the street in a small town.  A police officer managed to shoot her twice, and a local reporter snapped a picture while she was tearing a man apart.  The woman in the photo was clearly Ana.  Despite the gunshot wounds, she escaped.  The article went on to mention that this woman subsequently stole a truck from a nearby farm.  The next murder, the following day, was very near us.  She had travelled over fifteen hundred miles in a little over one day.

Knowing a confrontation was imminent, we drove out of town that evening, setting a blockade with our cars, about one hundred feet off the road and with a clear field of fire.  Soon, a well-used, rusted, blue pickup came barreling along the road.  Identical to Ana, the entity lept from the speeding truck and rolled upright, charging without breaking stride.

It was fast.  As it closed distance its back hunched, the lower jaw unhinged and distended and the thing’s face split, making the mouth an enormous, toothy cavern.  Sprouting vines and root tendrils trailed behind the thing and its nails and teeth curled out in the shape of huge thorns.  It leapt our barricade, screaming at Ana ‘We shall be stronger you and me!’

Ana, always level-headed in a crisis, calmly raised her shotgun, said ‘You are not me,’ fired, cocked the weapon and fired again.

The next day, I retired and she took command of the squad.” — Journal entry of Captain Carol Younger, forty years retired, in the care of the Project Catalyst Retirement Facility, location undisclosed.

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“The innkeeper’s son, vowed that he had at twilight seen all the cats of Ulthar in that accursed yard under the trees, pacing very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. The villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his dark and repellent yard…”
–The Cats of Ulthar
By H. P. Lovecraft

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(Author’s Note: This version of the Chupacabra is offered as an alternative to the one presented in The Bermuda Triangle source book for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.)

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“ It’s manifestation was prefaced by a flurry of livestock mutilations on the Caribbean island nation of Puerto Rico. Most disturbing was the face that the animal corpses, which included goats, sheep, chickens, and rabbits, were report to be completely devoid of blood, as if some modern vampire had paid them a visit in the dark of night. Allegedly, two tell-tale puncture wounds were the only sign left behind by the unseen attacker. Soon, reports of hideous, goblinlike creatures were large, lidless eyes and razor-sharp claws began to surface. The Chupacabra had arrived.” – Ken Gerhard, Encounters With Flying Humanoids

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Father of War
by Ian P. Duckett

“When Qassim pushed the metal vase over, shards of glittering black glass spilled out onto the floor. Qassim dipped his hand into the vase to see if old man Kassam had hidden his gold beneath shards. Just as Qassim started screaming, old Kassam pulled a pistol and shot himself in the head. He knew what was coming.”

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