OZARK HORROR: Bloody Bones & Raw Head

This week, I'm re-running the original run of "Ozark Horror." These were originally shared with a friend via e-mail, then posted on my MySpace blog last year. Now they are on this blog.

Deep in the woods of the Ozarks, there lived an old witch. She wasn't the kind who would stir up trouble for anyone, but everyone was afraid of her and kept their distance anyways. Thus, she only had one friend: an old razorback hog who would dig up roots and herbs for her in return for her slops. Very soon, after eating all of her old potions, the hog began to talk and walk like a man.

One autumn, it was hog-scalding and butchering time. One lazy old man went into the woods to steal a hog. Sure enough, he found the witch's pet. He quickly took it down with his rifle. Then, he carried to Hog Hollow, where the farmers would scald their dead pigs to remove the rough skin and then butcher the hogs for meat for the winter.

As the old man was riding away in the wagon, the hog's skinned ("raw") head fell off and rolled back to Hog Hollow.

There must have been something strange in that witch's potions. When the head stopped rolling, it said, "Bloody bones, get up."

With that, the old bloody bones of the hogs formed themselves into a skeleton and picked up the raw head and set it on it's own shoulders.

Then, it ran into the woods, and borrowed items from the animals: the panther's fangs, the bear's claws, and the owl's eyes.

That night, the old man couldn't sleep. He got up. Then, he thought he heard something on the roof. He looked up the chimney and froze in terror.

There were two glowing eyes staring down at him, just above a shining set of teeth. He saw flashing claws that looked as sharp as razors.

And it was getting closer. The thing was coming down the chimney!

The next morning, the old man's cabin was found in a shambles. There was no sign of anyone, but there were horse-hoof tracks leading away from the cabin, back to Hog Hollow. The neighbors found nothing but bones, but somehow, they knew they were not hog bones.

They never saw the old man again, but on nights with a full moon, if someone were to look at the moon at midnight, they would see a skinny, headless, figure, wearing an old shirt and overalls, riding the old man's horse.

And while the figure has no head on his shoulders, he does have a head. He carries it with him, holding it up against the moon.

Old Raw Head and Bloody Bones.