Aztec Sacrifice In Black Hawk County

Black Hawk: The town of Calvin in Black Hawk County appears at first to be quiet and unassuming. Its small population of 5,000 consists mostly of middle-class whites, most of whom commute to nearby Cedar Falls or Waterloo for work. Until a few weeks ago, the most shocking thing that ever happened in Calvin was when Cal's Stop and Split was robbed in 1971, and even then the thief didn't get too far because a Black Hawk county patrol car was just pulling in when the thief tried to make his escape.

     Barbara Jennings, of Calvin, was the only witness to the atrocity that occurred November 11th, an event that has become an FBI-led manhunt. The following is a portion of her statement to the authorities and select press, including Third Eye Over Iowa:

     "Well you know, the Holcrofts moved in down the street at the beginning of the school year, in late August. I met them the first day, when Will, my husband, and I went over there to introduce ourselves. I remember they all seemed very nice at the time. There was Brent, the husband. He said he was a carpenter and that he was looking forward to building a big workshop on his land. The space out here attracts a lot of people for that sort of thing. Most of the properties sit on at least an acre, and the Holcrofts' is about six acres and mostly wooded. There was also the wife, Emma, who had just taken a job in accounting in Cedar Falls. They also had two darling children, Jan and Theodore. Jan was ten, and Theodore was I think five. Anyway, I teach kindergarten here in town, so I told Theodore that I was looking forward to being his teacher.

     "What with the school year starting up and all, I didn't see much of the Holcrofts after that, except for Theodore. Brent spent most of his time in the back of the house working on consignment projects, and Emma would often work very late. Theodore, though, I thought was very intelligent for his age. He did have one odd habit, though, and that was how he wanted to write numbers. When I wasn't specifically watching him, he would write numbers with dots instead of Arabic numerals. And I even remember one particular time when I asked him if he knew what day of the week it was, and instead of saying Wednesday, he said 'Nine Wind.' I still don't know what he meant by that.

     "Well, the whole week before... before that day, Theodore wasn't in class at all. I called his parents several times, but their machine only said that the family had gone on vacation. Now you're supposed to call the school if you're going to take children on any sort of extended vacation so we can supply them with the material they need to learn for those days. I asked Elaine Caufield, Jan's teacher, if Jan had said anything about the family taking a trip, but it seems she didn't. So the kids had been out of school a week and mail was piling up at the Holcrofts'. On the 11th, at around 8:30 pm, I noticed looking out the front window that a flickering light was coming from behind the Holcroft house, out there in the woods. At first I thought that the family had come home from their trip and were burning yard refuse, but then I started to worry that nobody was home and an uncontrolled fire could somehow have gotten started. I decided to go over there and see if I needed to call the fire department.

     "It didn't look like there were any lights on in the house, so I walked around the side, but I still couldn't see the fire very clearly. There's this big hill right behind the house, and it looked like the light was coming from just over the hill, where the woods got thicker. I did see Brent's new work shed, though. The door was open, which I thought was a sure sign the family must be home, because that's basically his office in there, and he wouldn't have left the door open all during his vacation! So I started walking up the hill, looking forward to finding out how my neighbors' trip was, and to scold the parents a little for not getting the children's homework.

     "What I saw when I came over that hill stopped me in my tracks and I swear to God I almost fainted. There, on a mound of dirt that had been piled up was a stone...altar of some sort, with a small bonfire between it and me. Next to the altar was what looked like a wine rack. but instead of bottles, it held four or five skulls. Then there was the family....

     "Brent Holcroft was standing behind the altar, dressed in the strangest way. He wore a black cloak over some long gowns, with feathers hanging from the seams. His hair was all matted and shiny in the firelight. And that fire! It stunk of sulfur and meat so bad, my eyes were watering. Anyway, then I saw the rest of his family. Emma and Jan lay in a heap to the left of the altar, and they... well, they were mangled. Their chests were caved in and their arms were all gashed up. Blood soaked the ground and the altar. Oh, the sight was awful, truly awful. But then Brent produced little Theodore from somewhere, and had him lie on his back on the altar. The poor child looked dazed, but was definitely conscious when it happened. I think now that I am lucky that I was too paralyzed to scream, because what happened to that family might very well have happened to me. Brent took a short, wide black dagger from his gowns and raised it over his head. He said something then, it was, 'Hear me, o Quetzalcoatl! Awaken again and share the secrets of time and space! Quetzalcoatl, who brings rain from the stars, I, Yiollo Altepl, beseech you!' Then he brought the dagger down in one swift motion and blood sprayed from Theodore's chest. Then Brent, he... he reached inside Theodore's body and removed his heart. He put the heart in a jaguar-shaped bowl, and rolled the corpse off the altar. It looked to me like Brent was on the verge of frenzy. He began cutting apart his ears with the dagger and howling things I can't even remember.

     "I know what happened next is going to sound impossible, but this is what I remember. This is what I saw. In a rush, rain began spattering down, and I know it had just been clear an hour earlier. A light breeze picked up and the bonfire began smoking more and hissing in the rain. Then, out of the fire itself, came a fifty- maybe sixty-foot long thing . It just slithered up out of the earth, this oddly translucent snake-creature with some feathers for scales and a large pair of shimmering wings. It had rows of eyes all along its body and some weird little tentacles or feelers on its belly. In a flash, this creature dove on Brent, and its wings enveloped him. Then, like a rocket, the creature and Brent soared straight up into the sky, and disappeared in the clouds. At that point I had seen too much and it was time to faint."

     Investigators say that Barbara phoned in her report to the police at 10:35, shortly after she regained consciousness. The murders committed were in the style of the Aztecs, down to the very bowl in which Brent placed the hearts, except that the paraphernalia used had all been made of wood instead of the traditional stone. In addition, it has been noted that the name Quetzalcoatl refers to the Aztec's god of thunderstorms and wind and Yiollo Altepl means "heart of the city." Also found on the site, in Brent Holcroft's work shed, was an old device used to mark days in ancient Mexico. It consists of two interlocking wheels, one with a series of dots at the edge, clustered in groups from one to thirteen. The other was carved with symbols along the edge, including an eagle, serpent, dog, etc. The calendar wheels were set to seven dots and the serpent. Also in the Holcroft's house was found a series of drawings, which appear to be a sort of map of ley lines, except these lines do not coincide with Druidic, Wiccan or other ley line diagrams. The lines almost seem to form concentric circles around a ten-mile area, keyed to Calvin in the hub. Professor Alan Wendell, in the history department at Georg von Podebrad College, suggests that these lines may be similar in pattern and arrangement in some way to a newly discovered series of what seem to be irrigation canals in Cholula, Mexico, site of an ancient Aztec center for Quetzalcoatl cults.

     The police and FBI have been conducting a manhunt for Brent Holcroft, but so far his disappearance is best explained only by Barbara Jennings' story. Funeral services for the slain Holcrofts were held November 13th at the Burell Funeral Home.

     Third Eye will continue to investigate this happening as more research on the Aztec ley lines is compiled, as well as to seek out witnesses to Brent Holcroft and "Quetzalcoatl's" flight into the heavens.