Nanson Coroner's Hands Full

     Samples of the substance had been sent to the University of Emmetsburg Biochemistry Department for analysis. Results have yielded little, but what has come back is tantalizing. It seems that the mysterious substance has a considerable similarity, chemically, to the structure of the carapaces of several kinds of beetle, including the common June Bug. Many of the protein combinations discovered are unique to insects, and these combinations are most definitely in abundance on and within the woman's corpse. But there the similarity stops. The substance contains many other more complex and confusing combinations of chemicals which officials decline to comment upon until more research is done.

     U of E technicians have reason to hurry in their work. Another death has occurred in Nanson, and the modus operandi appears to be the same. Fifteen year old Michael Alt, upcoming freshman at Nanson High, was found dead in City Park on July 28th. Michael was returning home from a friend's house at about 10:30 when the incident must have occurred. A late night jogger by the name of George VanHoen discovered the body. As in the previous Connor case, Alt's body was covered with deep lacerations, and the ghastly black substance pouring out of his nose and mouth. Again, police say a struggle must have taken place, although the lacerations and bruises on Michael's body are the only physical signs of an assailant.

     Yet there is one woman who may have some light to shed on the situation. That is Darlene Bell, an old and homeless woman who frequents the park. She approached this reporter in a Nanson diner, and, in exchange for her story, I purchased her a full breakfast.

     "I was in the park that night, you know. I like to go there and rest my bones on them there benches they got. Well, and I was almost asleep, too, when I heard a crying out some fifty, sixty foot away. Now I don't got the best eyesight, honey, and it was pretty dark that night, but I know what I saw was there. That poor kid was strugglin' and cryin' cause this thing was attackin' him."

     Bell gobbled down more eggs and hash browns before continuing. "Now, what the thing was, exactly, I got no idea. It was shadowy, almost like it wasn't really there, like smoke or something. Even though it was dark black, I could see right through it. And it was big, maybe seven feet tall, and bulky. I'd like to say it looked human, but the truth of it is, it warn't nothin' human. Instead of arms, it had a bunch of claws or tentacles or something. It was hard to tell. Well, I couldn't even bring myself to scream, but just started prayin' to the Lord to make it go away. And then the boy yelled out his last, and fell to the ground. Then the monster, that demon, just wisped away like so much smoke from a campfire."

     I thanked Bell for her story and asked her if she'd told the police what she had witnessed. She said no, and that she didn't want to be homeless and considered crazy. Now Nanson residents are only hoping the police and Emmetsburg researchers can solve this mystery before yet another death occurs.