The Butcher of Madison County

Both brothers were exhausted as they headed out of town. They had just finished destroying a spirit who had been terrorizing a family for the last few weeks. The spirit had been a drug dealer who had been reportedly killed in the house and buried in an old nearby cemetery, a small marker was the only thing that identified his grave. After a few days they finally discovered the man's gravesite. They salted and burned the bones and the spirit was released from the house finally giving the owners some peace. For some reason Sam had taken the brunt of the spirit's vengeance and hadn't gotten a good nights sleep in days. But now the spirit was gone and Sam had finally drifted into a peaceful sleep for the first time in days, even the bumpy road didn't keep him awake. Right now all Dean wanted was to find a nice quiet motel and give his brother time to catch up on his sleep. They were about ten miles outside of town when Dean spotted a motel; he had just pulled into the parking lot when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller's name before answering.

"Bobby?"

"Yeah."

"What's up?"

"You boys still in West Virginia?"

"Yep, we're just heading into a town called Cole. Why?"

"I have a hunt for you if you're interested."

"What?"

"A friend of mine called me; he knows the line of work we're in. He's a prison guard down at Madison. Seems they have a program at the prison for first time offenders….It's sort of a camping trip where they teach you survival skills and teamwork. It's supposed to teach the prisoners responsibility and teach them to see that they can work as a team. …suppose to put them on the right path."

"What's this got to do with us?"

"Well it seems this time they're heading into the Appalachian Mountains and towards a town called Minersville."

"Minersville? Isn't that where that spirit killed all those campers a few years back?"

"Yeah, the officials swept it under the rug and said they were killed by a rogue bear, and that the bear was later found and killed."

"But in truth the spirit hacked and diced those people to pieces."

Dean remembered hearing about the case from his dad. A man, Jacob Monroe, had lived as a hermit in the mountain for years. When several campers and hikers disappeared the FBI was sent in and discovered Monroe's cabin. Inside they found a house of horror. Monroe had apparently tortured his victims then had hung them up in a shed behind his house and butchered them like animals. The officers also found large pots in Monroe's cabin, pots he had used to cook the victims in for food. They had actually caught Monroe as he was dragging his latest victim back from a hunt, but instead of being taken alive Monroe blew his brains out. Years later his spirit returned and butchered more people. One man had escaped and told the police that a ghost had killed his friends, but of course they didn't believe him. Later two of their dad's friends had gone there hoping to finish the spirit off but he somehow managed to escape and killed one of them in the process. Dean knew that all he and Sam could do, if they took the hunt, would be to show up and try to keep the spirit away from the group with a salt gun, and hope that maybe they might find his grave and destroy him once and for all.

"Yeah, a real sadistic bastard."

"How can we help?"

"My friend has some pull with the warden and he said he could get one of you in as a visiting guard, the other can go in as a first offender. He'll assign you both to the trip. Hopefully you'll be able to keep the spirit at bay if it shows up."

Sam, hearing Dean talking, woke up and looked over at his brother.

"What's up?" He asked as he stretched his sore muscles.

"Bobby's got a job for us." Dean said as he put Bobby on speaker phone.

"I'll be the prisoner, Sam can be the guard." Dean quickly spoke up; he wanted to get that much established before Sam got into the conversation. He knew how cruel some guards could be and he wasn't about to sit back and let his little brother get pushed around by them in front of him.

"Sorry Dean that won't work." Bobby said.

"Why not?"

"The guards in West Virginia have a strict dress code, including hair…..Now unless Sam wants to get his hair cut…."

"No way!" Sam spoke up. He wasn't even sure what the job was, but he wasn't about to cut his hair for it.

"Then you're in?" Bobby asked.

"When do we start?"

Bobby had always been there for them and Dean wasn't about to let him down even though he knew he and his brother both could use some rest.

"Day after tomorrow….. Get some rest tonight and I'll get my buddy to get the paperwork ready. I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what's happening. You'll go in as a guard from Blackwood Prison coming to check out Madison's First Offender Program. Then we'll set Sam up as a first offender who is being assigned to the program."

"Do we have any idea where Monroe is buried?"

"I've been told the cops buried him right there on his property. He had no money, no family, so they thought they'd save the county a little money. But the thing is, so far none of the hunters who have gone after him have found the grave, or died before they could. Without a grave you won't be able to end this thing but at least you can hopefully keep the others safe with your salt guns."

"We'll do our best to keep everyone alive and bring them home in one piece."

"I know you will…. Well that's about all I can tell you right now."

"Okay Bobby….we'll be waiting for your call."

"You boys be careful out there. This is one mean son of a bitch."

TBC