The Helmsdon Monster
Steve Hatherley

	The discovery of the carcasses of several sheep on 
	Helmsdon Moor in Yorkshire has returned memories to 
	the time of the Helmsdon Monster that terrorised 
	Helmsdon village in 1913.
	
	The sheep were scattered across the moor and 
	belonged to several different flocks. They had been 
	torn savagely apart and parts were missing, possibly 
	consumed by the killer.
	
	In April 1913 the village suffered similar losses 
	over a period of a week when something was killing 
	sheep indiscriminately during the night. It too, 
	left partially consumed remains behind and created 
	quite a stir in the press at the time. Several 
	woodsmen tried, without success to trap the culprit.
	
	After a week, the killings stopped as mysteriously 
	as they had begun, but not before 25 sheep and the 
	lives of Robert Jones and his wife were claimed.
	
	Several animal experts are being called in to help 
	catch the creature.

	The papers of 1913 are full of stories about the Helmsdon 
Monster. It is possible that some similarity between the killings can 
be reached.

Possibilities
1       The Monster is a ghast summoned by some foolish farmers 
dabbling in the occult. It came up through the caverns that riddle the 
area and began slaughtering the sheep. By day it hid in the caverns, 
by night it stalked the moors. 
	The farmers were terrified by the thing they had unwittingly 
called, but were powerless against it. However, the stories in the 
press attracted a sorcerer who came and bound the ghast to the 
caverns.
	The sorcerer has just recently died, releasing the ghast from 
its bindings. Once again it is reaching out to the surface and feeding 
on the sheep it finds. Eventually it will get brave enough to attack 
individual homesteads.

2       The slaughters are the work of one crazed lunatic who roams 
the moors, killing the sheep with his bare hands. He is completely 
insane, and very dangerous.

3       The creature is a large wild dog, a doberman. It is quite 
canny and will do its best to avoid capture. It was a guard dog at a 
nearby manor, but was set free during a drunken party. It will attack 
unhesitatingly.

Copyright (c) 1990 Steve Hatherley
steve@flar.demon.co.uk