Scary Stories - Skulls In The Stars

Solomon Cain, a tall, gaunt Puritan with a darkly pallid face and deep brooding eyes, was heading across the barren upland moor toward Torkertown when a breathless youth from the village overtook him. The boy begged him, for God's sake, to take the longer, more dangerous swamp road instead. When Cain pressed him for a reason, the youth admitted that the moor road was "accursed" and had not been traversed by anyone in the countryside for over a year. A "foul whore" haunted the way, claiming men for victims. No one had seen it and lived, but travelers had heard terrible laughter and the horrid shrieks of the dying.

Far back in Cain's gloomy eyes, a strange light began to glimmer. He saw the work of Satan and declared himself the strong man needed to combat it. He refused to turn back. The boy watched him swing up the road toward the moors as the sun set like a sea of blood behind the horizon.

The Hunt on the Moor

Cain walked swiftly into the night, sword and pistols at hand. Then he heard it: a strange, eerie echo that swelled into a frightful, soul-destroying laughter. No human being ever laughed like that. There was no mirth in it, only hatred, horror, and terror. Then, stabbing through the laughter, came a human scream.