Steve Hatherley
The discovery of the carcasses of several sheep on Helmsdon Moor in Yorkshire has returned memories to the time of the Helmsdon Monster that terrorised Helmsdon village in 1913.
The sheep were scattered across the moor and belonged to several different flocks. They had been torn savagely apart and parts were missing, possibly consumed by the killer.
In April 1913 the village suffered similar losses over a period of a week when something was killing sheep indiscriminately during the night. It too, left partially consumed remains behind and created quite a stir in the press at the time. Several woodsmen tried, without success to trap the culprit.
After a week, the killings stopped as mysteriously as they had begun, but not before 25 sheep and the lives of Robert Jones and his wife were claimed.
Several animal experts are being called in to help catch the creature.
The papers of 1913 are full of stories about the Helmsdon Monster. It is possible that some similarity between the killings can be reached.
1 The Monster is a ghast summoned by some foolish farmers dabbling in the occult. It came up through the caverns that riddle the area and began slaughtering the sheep. By day it hid in the caverns, by night it stalked the moors.
The farmers were terrified by the thing they had unwittingly called, but were powerless against it. However, the stories in the press attracted a sorcerer who came and bound the ghast to the caverns.
The sorcerer has just recently died, releasing the ghast from its bindings. Once again it is reaching out to the surface and feeding on the sheep it finds. Eventually it will get brave enough to attack individual homesteads.
2 The slaughters are the work of one crazed lunatic who roams the moors, killing the sheep with his bare hands. He is completely insane, and very dangerous.
3 The creature is a large wild dog, a doberman. It is quite canny and will do its best to avoid capture. It was a guard dog at a nearby manor, but was set free during a drunken party. It will attack unhesitatingly.
Copyright (c) 1990 Steve Hatherley
Steve Hatherley is the creator of Tales of Terror, and has written for both Chaosium and Pagan Publishing. He also has a number of other websites, including www.great-murder-mystery-games.com and www.mylowerbackpain.com.
Steve lives in Yorkshire, England.
Click here to see Steve's other Tales of Terror.