Fictional horror story about an occult related murder
In 1962, a young boy was walking around the Scottish countryside of Killin Village, just enjoying the summer sun and the peacefulness of nature. High flying birds were dancing in the air together, forming in and out of pretty shapes. Trees stood sparsely around the green fields he walked on, there seemed to be nothing but hills, slopes and little ponds around the area. That was until he saw a makeshift cross made out of wood, looking similar to that of a grave, but not quite. He didn't know what to make of it, so the boy got curious and decided to check the site up close, only to immediately regret it. The stink assaulted his nostrils first, before he saw it. The corpse. It was a woman, naked with her throat slit open, leaning limply upon the wooden structure. The boy cried and fled back into the village of Killin, he returned to his cottage and punched the door instead of knocking. His father slammed the door open, not expecting this rude visitor to be his teary eyed son.
"Patrick, what's the matter wee lad?!" His father hugged him.
"I- I- I saw... A body." Patrick wept.
"Oh son... I've told you about the wildlife, have I not? That they can die..."
"No, it wasn't an animal. It was a woman!"
The boy's father, named Andy Blake, called the police soon after and with the help of Patrick, they found the body. She was later identified to be Anita Charlesworth, a young woman in her early twenties that had no children of her own, but was known to be a local babysitter in the area who loved kids. It was fortunate that she had not met Patrick, as witnessing her dead body would've been twice as depressing and traumatising to witness. Detectives investigated the crime scene intensely, it was revealed that the blade which cut her throat was from a sickle. Bruises across her arms and legs, indicated that she had been stripped by force before the slaughtering began. Nobody had seen anything quite so brutal, it was like something out of medieval times. There were multiple footprints dug lightly into the ground, as if her execution was a public showing of sorts. An extinguished wooden torch was found nearby, fortunately forensics were able to detect fingerprints on the object. They belonged to a repeat offender named Francis Matthews, an ex-priest who was evicted from the local church for attempting to make a blood sacrifice to the devil, believing the land was cursed.
Francis's first attempted assault was on a young teenager named Brant Morrison, who was known to be a local hooligan. Francis believed the boy was possessed by a demon, claiming that his arrogant behaviour was orchestrated by dark spirits. This event happened in 1959, Brant was walking home too late one night, after leaving his troublesome friends behind, Francis chased Brant through the night streets, sickle in hard, raving; "Blood must be spilled!" Like the mad man he was. Locals within Killin Village heard the commotion and ran outside, stopping Francis from whatever he had planned. The priest was jailed for two years and was released in late 1965, everyone thought the lunatic had learnt his lesson. However with the ritualistic murder of Anita Charlesworth, and a wooden torch with his fingerprints all over it; it seemed the old man had not learnt his lesson.
It didn't take long for the local police to track Francis down, they found his home address rather easily and arrested the mad man the moment they entered. He was a loner, living on his own, the tiny cottage of his was full of wooden crosses and bibles ripped open and thrown about the place. He had written, "Save the land from Devil's curse!" All over the walls in different colours of ink and pencil. He was screaming; "you not know what you have done!" At the police men who were carrying him towards their car, "without me the devil has this land!" Francis also cried, "Killin Village will belong to the devil, I tell thee, but you're not listening!"
The policemen refused to reply, silently pushing him into the back of the car, before driving to the police station.
That night, Francis Matthews was interrogated by an English Detective named Arthur Black.
"Aye, what's an Englishman doing up here then?!"
"That is none of your concern." He replied professionally, Arthur had a posh accent which the ex-priest despised.
"You wouldn't understand our old traditions, laddie..." Francis snarled.
"Try me." The Detective smirked.
"Wipe that smile off your face, lad! The devil will take you also..."
"You believe in the Devil, Mr. Matthews?"
"That's Francis to you, Englishman. As much as I believe in God Almighty. Long ago this land belonged to the Devil and his twisted children..."
"That's nothing but folklore, Mr. Matthews-"
"It's Francis to you!" He snapped, "Don't you believe in the Heavens above us?!"
"In fact, yes I do. Mr. Matthews..." He taunted, "however, slaughtering the innocent! That doesn't sound very biblical to me."
"Innocent!" Francis scoffed, "the first lad I tried to cleanse from this earth, he was Satan's spawn, I tell you this... That boy was a mad child, always stirring up trouble and fighting. Possessed by demons he was, for all his sins. I tried to clean his blood from our land. To stop the Devil's reign from capturing Killin Village yet again. Can't you see it, Red Coat, I was trying to prevent hell's evil from spreading!"
"But, you failed in that endeavour, Mr. Matthews-"
"It's Francis to you!"
"How about Anita Charlesworth, wasn't she innocent?!"
"That lass was a whore!" Francis spat.
"Not from what I heard, Mr. Matthews... She was a beloved character within Killin Village, mostly known for being the local babysitter. What makes you think of such filth?"
"She was always with that clown of a man, Henry Carter. Kissing and touching him up, lived with that cretin too."
"I don't see how any of that is your business!" Arthur snapped, slamming his fist down upon the table, but Francis was not startled.
"They were not wed!" He exclaimed, "that is why her behaviour was unethical. Her blood had to be spilled and so, now Killin Village is saved, Hallelujah!"
"So you admit it!" Arthur roared, his posh persona fading under his wrathful screams, "you're a killer, Mr. Matthews and we'll lock you up for this, I swear. Good day sir, Good day!" Arthur triumphed, before leaving the cold, darkly lit interrogation room.
"I am no murderer..." Francis mumbled to himself, "I am a saviour."
Francis Matthews was publicly hanged for the murder of Anita Charlesworth later that year, the evidence alongside his confession made it clear, without a shadow of a doubt that it was him, who was behind her murder. Of course, in 2024, the village of Killin still stands, with Francis's dying breath he claimed to have saved his home by executing Anita, staining the ground with her blood. There is one mystery left however, that is still left unanswered to this very day. There was evidence of a crowd gathered around Anita's murder, a total of four different footprints were found within the grass around her dead body. None of which were from the child Patrick Blake, who originally found the body, they were all of different foot sizes, shapes and patterns, so they weren't all Francis's either. There must've been a small cult of people, who gathered around to watch Anita's death, but not a single one of these mysterious figures were ever identified. Perhaps Francis was just a member of this group, similar killings have been reported around Scotland even before this particular murder case, there was one as recent as 2017. Perhaps whoever was truly behind this madness, is still out there to this very day.
About the Creator
Joseph Roy Wright
Hello there!
My name is Joseph Roy Wright, the British author of over 30 Independent novels!
I like to write about movies, pop culture, fiction and horror! I review all the latest films (and classics), I also like to write short stories.
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The Revenge
This is a tale of revenge, about a young man who finally snaps one day, letting his frustrations vent, in the worst way possible. His whole life he always let people control him, never standing up for himself and demanding freedom. He always did exactly what his mother and father said, no matter how difficult. His wife bosses him around too, he had failed at dating a million women before her, so was willing to obey just to remain married. He had become weak willed, tired and still very timid of everything and everyone around him. This man was named William Smith and he had been moulded into a victim of modern society, where masculinity was frowned upon and he was often called a creep for daring to approach women, back when he was a single male. His wife, Romana Smith, knew exactly the type of guy William was and manipulated his every life decision since they had met. It was a mostly loveless marriage, that only lasted because they were financially dependent upon each other. Although it wasn't her that drove William mad with rage, it was all the horrible men who thought they were so much bigger and stronger than him, pushing him around when he was in work or out drinking back in his youth. For decades the humiliation of being thrown out of the nightclub in Runcorn old town, and then beaten by the doormen there, was something that still angered him to this day. It was all because he was a little "too drunk", or perhaps weakened by the alcohol, so they saw him as an easy target to pick on. He tried to report their abuse, but the owner, Mack Oaks, defended their corrupt security and called him the drunken idiot who deserved what happened to him. Oh, William refused to believe getting kicked around like a football was a worthy punishment, for simply having too much of a good time. He still had the scars from that attack from several years ago, before he met Romana and eventually got married. Yet it was still very much fresh in his mind. Another time, a few years later after he was assaulted outside the nightclub, William had a night job in a warehouse. The work environment was toxic. There was a supervisor who was also named Mack, who worked there. This guy was very different than the nightclub owner, but the name still unsettled William, who remembered the severe beating that boss allowed outside his club. So he ignored the name and continued working, but this second Mack would prove to be even more ruthless. This supervisor was an absolute tyrant, he'd order William about like a general and the shy young man would do whatever he asked. He felt worthless under Mack's rule, breaking his back lifting stock far too heavy and getting insulted on a weekly basis. It was pure slave labour and he couldn't stand it, William was eventually pushed to his limit and yelled back at his supervisor who then smacked William hard against the mouth for speaking out of line. William fled in terror and reported the abuse, but the company didn't believe him and fired William instead. This incident didn't result in a senseless beating, but the injustice of it was beyond upsetting. For several years, William carried this hate he had for these despicable people who had insulted him physically. He had moments where he forgot, then other days, especially at work, where he'd remember this abuse. It wouldn't be until he lost everything, that William would finally snap and lash out at the world. He and his wife were out drinking one night, a very friendly business man approached them casually, hiding his true intentions. They were so drunk, William and Romana didn't think to suspect this smiling man, who even bought them a few drinks from his own pocket. This so-called business man was actually more of a con artist, who ran his own independent company which "diversified" peoples money into multiple stocks, which often sank below the initial value. The customer could always withdraw, but the stocks would typically cost less than they first invested. Yet it was the high service charges, that the con-artist charged his customers for, which is where he got rich. He would write up these convoluted contracts that meant his customers couldn't withdraw too often, so that he could keep most of the money for himself. Giving back the short change through a legal loop hole. Most wouldn't fall for this, neither would a drunken William or Romana if they were sober. Yet the con-artist preyed on these two like a lion and that night, got them to sign over half their life savings. This one single stupid decision cost them their house, Romana blamed William for the mishap and they soon got divorced. When they finally managed to withdraw their money it was a faction of the original value, and the con-artist took a heavy cut too. William soon discovered that this con-artist was also named Mack, just like the other two men who had betrayed him before. Now William was alone, poorer than he'd ever been and absolutely full of wrath with nothing else to lose. So he vowed revenge on all of them, one by one, William planned on murdering all three of them. First there was the nightclub owner in Runcorn, the incident happened so many years ago, the owner didn't even remember him. This was the perfect opportunity to "apply for a job" there, as the owner had no idea who William was. The plan worked out perfectly, he was invited to the job interview and William snuck in some rat poison on his jacket. He hoped the owner would be drinking a coffee or tea, but the opportunity did not present itself, so William did his best to make a good impression and get the job, which he succeeded at. He asked his new boss if he wanted a coffee one afternoon before they opened for the night, Mack was beyond pleased and accepted William's generosity. He thanked his killer before taking a long gulp of the tainted coffee, that was poisoned with ricin (as William discovered it was untraceable). A few days later, that nightclub owner died of "natural causes" and William got away with the murder. So then there was the second Mack, this kill was a lot easier. All William had to do was wait for his target to leave from work, early in the morning when nobody was around except for him and Mack. William confronted Mack down a dark alleyway and screamed "fired am I?!" then shot his old work bully to bloody pieces, fleeing the scene immediately after. Soon a murder investigation was opened and the news was on TV, even the nightclub owner's death was suddenly questioned too, as both targets were named Mack and that they both had many enemies (because of all the poor people they had bullied). William knew his time was running out and his nemesis was still out there, Mack the con-artist. This final Mack lived in a huge mansion within the countryside of Chester, no doubt paid for by the many people he had scammed over the years. If anyone deserved death more than the others, it was this guy for sure! The original plan was to just kill this Mack like the others, but after seeing the luxurious home he had, William wanted to see that building on fire. So he did just that, waited until three in the morning, outside the impressive mansion until everyone was asleep. Then William poured petrol around the mansion's outer walls, all the way around the building so there was no escape. He poured extra around the doors, all so the exits would be especially harder to access. Then he lit a match over the petrol he had poured, and a small fire began form, which soon ballooned into a much larger one that soon swallowed the mansion up whole. William smiled to himself, as Mack's voice screamed in agony, alongside his children and wife. The sound filled William with the utmost glee, as he danced along to their screams of terror like it was disco music. Finally, William had gotten his revenge. The killer fled the country soon after his final kill, taking the last of his money abroad to Spain. He hasn't been spotted since.
By Joseph Roy Wright2 years ago in Horror
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