The Bandage Man

There was once said to be a very talented logger named Henry Reed, who was a rugged looking man that grew his intimidating beard purely out of personal preference rather than to ward people from interacting with him as he was actually a very nice, warm and welcoming individual. One day while out working he had a horrific accident in which he subsequently died from, he had lost control of the chainsaw he was using and while he jumped with the fright he ended up tangling himself up somehow and the chainsaw worked its way through his body like a knife through butter causing multiple limbs to be sawn away. He was found a short time after and was brought to hospital but by this time the damage had already been done and he was pronounced dead.

Down on Cannon beach, which for those who don't know where it is, its located in northwest Oregon and is a small coastal city which is best known for its long sandy shores and beaches, but is a spot for teenagers to come and do what teenagers do, especially at night. It has a bad reputation for underage drinking and drug taking but in reality it's just a few beach parties that got a bit out of hand that give the place that reputation, in fact compared to a lot of areas around this part of Oregon it has the lowest crime rate. It is more of a place the boys and girls go to kiss under the romantic moonlight that shines down upon the water at certain points.

A group of overly excited girls decided one night to drive down to the lane way just beside the beach and have a good high pitched gossip about what's going on in each others lives, this lane is known as the place where if you didn't want to be seen by anyone then drive down here and disappear from view. As the night progressed one of the girls had to pee so got out of the car and over behind a tree she went to relieve herself. As she unzipped her trousers and hovered over the ground she could here strong rustling and mucky footsteps coming from behind her, she turned her head at a 45 degree angle and ears pointed up the way in an attempt to try and hear the noise again, the noise didn't let her down.

Walking out of the dark was a man like figure that was wrapped in blood stained bandages similar to that of a mummy, he slowly plodded towards the frightened girl who was stuck with the shock but as he got close to her he was blinded by the lights of the car that the girls were in. This gave the girl who was peeing the chance to jump into the car and they started to drive away as fast as they could. When they got onto the main road they could hear a bang on the roof of the car while also there was this strong foul stench of rotten flesh, the girls wondering what this was decided to keep driving but one of them noticed in the mirror that there was that bandaged up man again latching on to the back of the car.

Boom boom boom! He banged repeatedly on the back window causing the girls to scream and swerve on the road, just about avoiding crashing down a steep slope on the side. The man seemed to be stuck to the car, banging repeatedly before he started to remove a bandage on his abdomen to reveal his scars while he laughed as though the removal of the bandage caused a tickle. The girls who were terrified drove towards the smallest town to try and get help, they sped into the town trying to ignore the noises coming from creepy stranger, as they reached the town center the banging had stopped and the man had disappeared. The girls got out and hysterically went to the police station to tell the story of what happened.

This had not been the first time that the police from this town had heard this story, exactly the same way each time it had been told - man wrapped up in bandages stalks people down in Cannon beach, follows them in their car before disappearing when they get to the town. The local legend has it that this person is Henry Reed back in some sort of ghost/mummy form to scare teenagers for whatever reason, he isn't thought to have ever killed anyone, only relishing at the chance of terrifying the youths. 

Down the quiet lane besides the beach you can at the right moment see the bandaged figure , he will first come to your attention by the sound of his slow footsteps which is normally followed by his strong flesh smell before eventually revealing himself to you. When he does reveal himself to you, this means he likes you and has chosen you to be the next victim for his night of terror, he will follow you endlessly and the only way to get rid of him is to drive into the town as he cannot cross a point in the road that leads to the town entrance. He is now known as the Bandage Man of Cannon Beach.

The Treatment

"Positive. Absolutely positive. That little green man will be gone in no time."

"And his pitchfork? Will it scratch my mind ever again?"

"You'll be your old self within days. You'll be bagging potatoes. No scratch that. Forget about bagging vegetables, you'll be running Cung Brothers Merchants in no time Larry!"

"Enough of the sweet talk. You need to work your magic before he returns."

"In the presence of a witch, no elf would dare to show his face I'll have you know." The five-foot eleven apprentice-witch combed the fingers of his left hand through his messy hair and fondled through a dusty drawer of potions with his right until, "Qwah Dep!" He exclaimed in Old Scorchish, "Here we go."

Larry Cung, the easily led middle son of Krzysztof Cung a local business man clenched his bony hands into fists. His wiry body was strapped onto a long wooden table as he awaited the cure. He stared up at the basement ceiling. Candles created eerie shadows around the room. The tension was building and he began breathing heavily.

"If half the town were witches, I'd like to think you'd be coming to me anyway Larry"

"Sure, of course." Larry began to realise that Bert was in complete control and quieted down.

"Brace yourself! This is gonna be a bumpy ride my friend!" Bert raised a vile of red cloudy liquid into the air with exuberance, lowering it to sneeze over his shoulder and turning back to watch his patient who grew anxious as the time for treatment came closer.

"Ok open wide Larry and think of happy thoughts. Think of your family, your future, your girlfriend-" "-she left me last year Bert!"

"Oh, well then don't think about her so."

The liquid spilled from the vile into the mouth of the patient as Bert chanted, "bwee chang ung...com zang nong...ba oi!…ba day."

The candles in the basement all flickered as a swirling gale picked up in the room, though all windows were sealed. Larry's eyes remained open, but had a glossed over look to them and his narrow body convulsed repeatedly as if being electrocuted. The dust of his old suit was sucked into the wind and his shoes clapped together with each convulsion.

Bert paced around the table three times, keeping his eye on the patient. He began to feel light-headed and fell across Larry's chest, the two bodies creating an ‘X’. The room fell silent. No wind, no chanting, no convulsing. Silence.

"Uhhh-heeeeh". Larry spluttered back to life.

"Bert are you okay?" The apprentice-witch lay slumped over his patient. "Bert? Say something old friend."

Helplessly trying to free himself, Larry began to question why he came down here.

Just before panic set in, "Oh, yeah. Grand. All that spell-casting really takes it out of you.” Larry hopped onto his feet. “At least it's Friday. I've only got Mrs Winkercheif in the morning and then I can relax 'til Monday."A smile came across Larry's face. Bert was back to himself.

"So, I'll leave you sleep in the spare bed and we'll do some measurements and tests in the morning."

"Bert-" "No need to thank me, I was born like this." The apprentice-witch turned towards the stairs.

"Bert!" He shouted. Larry looked back at the strapped-in patient. "Untie me."

"Oh right. Of course. You're wouldn't have been the first one to spend the night down here strapped in. Have I told you about the time I left Councillor Krinkle in here overnight? She came in because of some visions she had about giving those giraffe- necked gogglebiddies the vote.”

"You hadn't told me."

“Well you don't know, okay?”

Larry was set free from the table and with each step he felt the soaring effects of what took place. He followed the chatty Bert up to the ground floor where they toasted to a successful treatment over a few glasses of gecko wine. The basement sat in darkness waiting for a new patient to enter its confines. The howling winds that had rushed through the room had dispersed.

 But they would return.

Side Note ; This story was written by the returning Gerard Gilroy who was off travelling for a while. I hope to have more from him soon while he is back in Ireland

New Years EVE!!!

Every year a different one of us host a party to bring in the new year, its your usual gathering around the table for dinner followed by some cheesy game of charades along with a glass of bubbly or two. I personally find it very tedious with it being very structured, every year its the same I often wonder to myself "Do people actually look forward to this night every year?", but it seems they do and who am I to argue with that, its my year to host and host it I will but with a twist, i'm gonna make things interesting.

Nine o'clock came and off goes the door bell, in they come all dressed up and smelling like they spent the last hour bathing in a bath of cologne and perfume, especially the perfume. The one good thing about hosting is that you get brought gifts, most of them are useless that I will never use or try to exchange but you do get the few that are worthwhile. They all gathered around the table as I brought out plate by plate but they were covered over I didn't want to reveal the surprise just yet, well not at least until everyone was had their fill.

I stood up and gave a sarcastic speech about how much it means to me to have all my friends here and wishing we all have a great night, before telling them all to eat up. As each of them took off the tin cover to reveal what was underneath I could feel something inside me tingling with excitement, their reactions were priceless, the look of shock and horror on their faces makes it all worthwhile. The loud high pitched screams are like music to my ears, each plate filled with a nasty appetizer of which included - a plate of bugs, a human hand with the dirt of the nails left in for extra flavour, the head of a crow and my personal favorite pigs tongues topped with the eyes of their young.

They all tried to flee the room but the doors slammed shut, I asked them " Where you going, we didn't even break out the charades yet" which didn't go down well and was met by "What kind of a sick freak are you" and " Is this your idea of fun" I nodded to this question. Nobody was leaving until they cleaned their plate, I waved my hand which bound them all to their chairs and gave them each an ultimatum - "Eat up or I snap your necks one by one".

The first guy refused so as I promised I snapped his neck with one turn of my wrist, the rest sat there looking terrified but they reluctantly started digging in to their delightful meal. What a sight it is to watch seven professional adults cry over their dinner, the smell of perfume and cologne was soon replaced by sweat and in some cases urine. The clock was fast approaching midnight and I knew I didn't have much time left to toy with these sophisticated sheep of society, so after giving them a few minutes to digest I gave them a choice - "One of each couple has to die right now and seen as I already killed one guy then his wife gets a pass, its your lucky day honey".

Not surprisingly the three men volunteered but unbeknownst to them I liked to think of myself as a fan of this gender equality buzz that seems to be floating around here on Earth, so I was gonna kill another man and two females, I didn't tell them this as I wanted to see who would step forward, think of it as a social experiment. I gave them the chance to say goodbye before firstly snapping one mans neck, who lay next to his sobbing wife. Next I turned to the two remaining couples who sat there hugging each other, I wanted to make it quick so I snapped my fingers and killed both the women. The men sat there in shock before charging at me but as hard as they try they cannot hurt me.

11.58 pm I opened the doors and forced the remaining people to leave. My name is Eve I am the Demon of this day of the year, hence the name. People think New Years Eve is a day of celebrating, for its the last day of the year but the truth is it was once a day assigned to me by God who banished me after something went horribly wrong but this day stayed attached to me and now once a year the power of this day releases me from the horrible place I was put in and I take control of one innocent victim and torture their friends for the night.  Happy New Years All.

The Witching Hour

Have you ever awoke to find yourself confused and scared for no reason whatsoever, or if you cannot sleep you get that eerie feeling that someone or something is watching you? And have you noticed both these normally occur during the hour of 3am and 4am? Well this is because this hour is known as the witching hour, where black magic is said to be most effective and also where supernatural beings come out to "play", as it is a reverse of the time that Jesus Christ was killed at. In hospitals worldwide the most deaths have occurred during this hour, in the days of the witch hunts if a woman was caught outside at this time she was seen as a witch and sentenced to death, and finally it is also the hour in which no prayers were said or catholic church services held as marked by the canonical hours.

In the City of Bristol, South West England, there is a hotel located outside the City called Benvenuto which meant welcome in Italian. It is owned by two elder Italian gentlemen who seem to never take a day off, on arrival at reception one is always there to greet you with a smile that shows off his yellow teeth while the other can be seen in the back room rocking back and forward on his chair watching some cheesy Italian dating game show that had the volume up way too loud. The interior of the hotel was full of character, it had an old Victorian look to it with a huge chandelier taking your attention as soon as you enter. There is a stylish staircase that takes you up to where the rooms are, there are only 15 rooms in total, each had its own name and unique feel to them.

Tommy Jenkins, a harmless try-hard man had just drove down from Liverpool for a weekend break away, his relationship with his wife was on the rocks so they decided to have a break away from each other. He booked two nights in the Benvenuto as he wanted somewhere outside of the chaotic city to "clear his head" and it was cheaper, something he took into consideration a lot in his life. He checked in without any trouble, which he was surprised at and shown to his room by the yellow teethed smiling Italian man while noticing in the background the other guy rocking back and forward, eyes glued to the T.V. His room was called The Wicker Room, all the furniture in there was either plaited or woven to create the desired look, a king sized bed and a stacked mini bar as a token of good will - Tommy thought to himself that this was a weekend he wont forget in a hurry.

After taking advantage of the facilities of the room including the mini bar, Tommy decided to go down and check out the bar in the hotel - he wasn't a huge drinker but he had the "When in Rome" feeling tonight. The bar was named The Witching hour, described to Tommy by the drone like barman as "Appropriately named as it closes at three and the clientele might aswell be possessed at that hour". He sat drinking his pint of lager and nibbling on a bowl of chips gazing around attentively at everyone interacting and losing themselves in the night, Tommy got a kick out of judging peoples actions.

A few drinks later he got brave, his inhibitions started to lower as he walked up to a guy who was throwing darts and asked if he wanted a game to which the guy smirked and obliged. After the formal handshake was over with the man he looked at Tommy and asked "What room you in son"
"Um the wicky room or something like that" replied a carefree Tommy, the other guy laughed while looking equally confused "The wicky room? you mean the wicker room you numpty, nice room that, you should have a very fun night!!". As the game progresses Tommy noticed something on the dart board -  each number had a different supernatural being attached to it right between you hit a treble and a double, the other guy saw that Tommy noticed it and put his arm on his shoulder saying "Add's a bitta character to it heh!!"

The night was drawing to a close and Tommy was about to call it a night, it was coming up to 3 am and the bar was shutting but not before the guy asked one favour of him "As with the hotel tradition may I ask if you will throw one single dart at 3 am when the lights of the bar flicker, just as a sign that you had a good night" Tommy replied " Erm sure thing mate" and when the lights did indeed flicker he swerved his wrist and threw the dart which landed on eight that had some sort of ghost on it,  " 8 huh, nice choice son nice choice" said the estranged guy in his common British accent. Tommy walked up to get the dart he threw and as he turned to eventually ask what the guys name was the guy had disappeared, maybe he had just met batman Tommy joked to himself before staggering up to his room still laughing at his joke.

Resting his head on his pillow thinking what a great night he had he could hear the faint sound of a piano playing, it sounded like it was in his room but there was no piano so he ignored it and said out loudly to himself "Its probably someone trying to impress some girl he pulled with his crap piano skills hahahaha". His eyes about to close to enter the land of nod before the loud bang of a door slamming shut made him jump up from his bed and wonder what the hell that was, he walked around the room rubbing his tired eyes, he could hear giggling from the bathroom, slowly pushing open the bathroom door he was met by a lot of steam as if the shower was on its highest temperature for the past hour, wondering to himself if he was dreaming or going crazy he rubbed out the steamed up mirror before noticing that standing behind him was a figure that had its eyes burned out, with the smile and makeup of a clown, along with wearing a shirt covered in blood and a knife that seemed to stem from an opening in its knuckles, all the while being very transparent.

Tommy rushed out of the bathroom trying to close the door but the ghost figure just walked straight through it, he frantically asked "Who are you? What do you want?" but the response he got was just a giggle before it charged at Tommy slashing his face and knocking on to that lovely bed he earlier didn't want to leave. The bed was filled with more of that steam like smoke which caused Tommy to start suffocating slowly, as he gasped for air his head was filling up with this smoke causing one of his eyeballs to pop out and teeth to shatter, blood poured violently from his nostrils and ears before after a minute or so his head exploded making the same sort of sound as if you had popped a balloon.
The ghost then sucked the rest of his body up into the smoke which was then trapped inside a small container that read " Smoking Kills" before vanishing back into the bathroom waiting to be called upon again.

The next night at the hotel was like any other , the two Italian men at the reception area waiting to check in the next poor victim and the guy in the bar throwing darts waiting to see what fate awaited that person. Tommy Jenkins was put on the missing list by the authorities with most saying that he had either run away or killed himself due to his unhappy lifestyle but no one knows the truth about what happens at Benvenuto between that special hour of night.

The Dark Side of Christmas : The Kallikantzaros

In Greek mythology there is said to be a rather special tree known as the World Tree of Christmas. It is thought that the roots of the tree that were all linked underground brought great happiness to everyone around this time of the year as the link between them was at its most prominent on December 25th and going straight through to January the 5th, the 12 days of Christmas. This tree was a place of worship for not only locals but from people from all over the world who gathered in hope of gaining some of the positive energy that the tree gave out during the twelve days.

With every good aspect to something there seems to be a bad one, and this comes in the form of the Kallikantzaros. These are small green goblins that live under the ground burrowing through the soil like moles desperately trying to cut the roots of the famous tree away, for the sole purpose of bringing misery to everyone who sought the opposite. It was only during the twelve days each year that these nasty goblins would appear as they worked in tandem with the winter solstice in which the sun ceases its seasonal movement.

Many speculate that these are harmless to people, with their only intention of destroying the tree, but as with the movement of time the Kallikantzaros have evolved. They not only aimed to destroy the world tree but also any Christmas tree that belongs to a family with more than three kids, as they didn't have the ability to count past three so they see anyone with kids above that number as some form of evil and their tree was the source of this power.

Their appearance differs from story to story with descriptions ranging from being green and very hairy to being red and scaly with horns on either side of their forehead to help with the digging. In Irish mythology the Kallikantzaros are very similar to the Leprechauns, in appearance and in how they are very mischievous in their ways. Another fellow related character would be the garden gnome, there is history of the gnomes coming to life at certain points of the year and wreaking havoc only to just revert back to their stone like feature and watch as the children get punished for the crime.

One last detail about the Kallikantzaros is how someone becomes one. There are two ways but they both must be done - If a family has a fourth child between the twelve days (Dec 25th - Jan 6th) and if that child dies between them dates before he reaches the age of four. If this happens then the soul of the child is trapped within the clutches of the goblin like creatures and no lore or legend has an answer of how to escape.

The Dark Side of Christmas: Gryla

In the mountains of Iceland is said to live a scary old woman, but this woman was not like any other, in appearance nor in how she carried herself, there is some debate to whether she is actually human with more saying that she is in fact a troll. In a dull and dreary cave was where she resided, she was always in a bad mood and had thirteen short tails that were tucked beneath her shabby gown. Curly long nails and a spotted face added to her hideousness.

She was married three times, the first two times she killed her husband because they were not able to give her what she wanted ; the ability to have kids of her own. This made Gryla develop a hatred for children, especially the happy ones. Once a year around the time of Christmas she would set off looking for happy children and kidnap them via her large rucksack that she hunched over her broad shoulders and walked back to the cave with. She would not kill the children but would snip their nails and cut their hair before adding it to a large pot to make her favourite dish of all - Kids Stew.

She believed by doing this that it would somehow get rid of what she believed was a curse put upon her that she couldn't have kids, so year after year she grabbed hapless children before scarring them for life. This all stopped when something happened to Gryla, one day she awoke to find that at the end of each of her tails lay a new born baby, thirteen in total and these would be know as The Yule Lads.

After these kids were born her anger lessened and she became tired, her and her husband Leppaludi, a similar ugly looking troll with a hatred for happiness, decided to rest for whatever time they had remaining. Not to be forgotten was her pet cat, a large black cat known as the Yule Cat who accompanied Gryla on her kid snatching escapades of yesteryear  but now roams around the cave content that her master is happy.

Her age is unknown but is said to be over 300 years old and her only weakness was the bright Christmas lights of the City/Towns. She was a fearsome troll once upon a time and her story is still told around schools and all sorts of Christmas gatherings, "Beware of the grumpy old lady and her cat" this sign can be seen all around Iceland and is said to refer to the legend of Gryla. Her whereabouts in the world of folklore has been a mystery for many years now but her kids still live on. There is one thing that can be sure, Gryla was as fearsome and frightening as they come with many giving her the title as "The mother to all the evil of Christmas".

 

The Dark Side of Christmas : Hans Trapp

Christmas is a time of year for giving and to be with your family but along with the many stories you hear of happiness there are also a few tales of terror around this time.

According to the legend , there used to be a man called Hans Trapp who was rich and powerful and lived in the heart of the Alsace. He had a very bad reputation, known to be awfully cruel and very vain and heartless, he spent his life doing whatever means necessary just so he could live a better life no matter how bad of a crime he had to commit he didn't mind doing it. A bitter and narcissistic man, Trapp hated to see others happy.

He was said to worship Satan and delve into the realms of black magic, this was how he gained his wealth and power but when the Catholic Church found out about this he was arrested and brought before the Pope in Rome and thrown out of the church for the crime of sacrilege. On his return to the Alsace, everyone abandoned him, they took his land and money and exiled him deep into the forest away from society.

He was pushed into a region of Bavaria known as the mountain of Geisberg and here he built a small shack made from sticks where he would take refuge while slowly losing his sanity dreaming and planning his revenge on all who took what he had away from him. Over time as his anger grew and food became more scarce he had cravings for human flesh, these cravings got more intense up until all that took over his thoughts was him biting into the flesh of a human arm or leg.

Roaming around looking for sticks and hay he had an idea to disguise himself as a scarecrow in an effort to lure young kids in. One day a boy passed by, he was no more than 10/11 years old but Hans saw him as the perfect victim , he was drooling at the mouth as his taste for flesh became uncontrollable he jumped out and attacked the boy. He brought the body of the boy back and roasted him over an open fire, he licked his lips preparing to finally taste what he had so wanted for a long time until at the moment of the flesh entering his mouth he was struck down by lightening. Many believe this was an act of God as he would not allow the crimes of Hans Trapp to continue anymore and he put an end to him once and for all.

The story of Trapp is still told around these parts of the world around Christmas time as a way of scaring kids into doing good by muttering the words "Hans Trapp will come for you". The visual of Hans is that of an old hunched over man with a long grey/black beard and always wore a long brown coat but that was him before he was exiled, since then he is known as the scarecrow man with many believing that if your kids act out in a bad way then he comes knocking on your house waiting to devour your child.

If Hans does visit your house the first thing you will hear is the sound of sticks breaking in the yard and the swoosh of his invisible steps through the snow. If this is heard then the only ways to prevent him from entering is to attach a small figure of a scarecrow with a cross and say out loud the prayer of Saint Nicholas, this guards the house from the presence of Hans.

Across many regions this terrifying tale is told, some believe it to be true and have their own experiences while others believe it to be nothing more than a sick way of scaring your kid into doing good. Either way the legend lives on to this day and is just one of the many stories to the dark side of Christmas.