Scary Stories - Skulls In The Stars

Solomon Cain, a gaunt Puritan with a darkly pallid face and deep brooding eyes, stood at a crossroads outside a village. A breathless youth had just overtaken him, begging him for God's sake to take the longer, more dangerous swamp road instead of the shorter route across the Barren Upland moor. The villagers had warned him vaguely against the moor, but now the boy confessed the truth: the moor road was accursed. A foul thing haunted the way, claiming men for its victims. No one had seen it and lived, but travelers had heard terrible laughter and the horrid shrieks of the dying. The corpses were found bruised and torn.

Far back in Cain's gloomy eyes, a scintillant light began to glimmer. "These things be deeds of some power of evil," he said. "A strong man is needed to combat Satan and his might. Therefore I go." The boy watched helplessly as the tall, rangy figure swung up the road toward the moor.

The Hunt on the Moor

The sun set huge and blood red behind the sullen horizon. Cain struck out boldly in the gathering darkness, sword and pistols at hand. The moon began to rise, "lean and haggard, like a skull among the stars." Then he heard it: a strange and eerie echo, then a whisper of frightful laughter. No human being ever laughed like that. There was no mirth in it—only hatred, horror, and soul-destroying terror.