Late 1945 – The day before Thanksgiving
The only way that Gellert Grindelwald could escape from the castle was to turn himself into a pigeon and fly away. He had cast a powerful spell in which he created a replica of himself and then savagely killed his creation. He stabbed the being several times and then beat it over the head with a blunt object several times. He then set the room on fire and then flew away.
It took him several days to fly from Austria to the US. He didn't like changing from human to bird form., He hitched a ride on an aircraft which landed in place called Wyoming. He was near a town called Cheyenne. He flew to the downtown area, then in a alley way converted back to human form. He could tell that he was in the American West. He'd heard a lot about the American West but didn't really know much about it.
People looked at him as he walked down the street with a old battered suitcase. He looked out of place. The clothing that he wore looked like something out of a different era. Some of the guys dressed like cowboys gave him the look that he wasn't really welcome. He gave them the evil eye and they freaked out and backed away from him. His magic was the only protection he had against these cowboys who would have been delighted to rough him up or knock him out.
It was starting to get dark and he knew he either needed to get someplace to sleep for the night or needed to get out of town. He didn't feel comfortable or safe in the town. It was starting to get very very cold.
There was a place called Hazel Brown Boarding House. Grindelwald turned his clothing into a US air force military uniform, he walked over the to the Boarding House and was given a room for a couple of nights.
Almost immediately Hazel Brown was very suspicious of him. There was no air force base in Douglas Wyoming which was about 125 miles from Cheyenne. How he got to Douglas as the transportation options were rather limited and tightly controlled was anyone's guess.. The man spoke with a heavy Germany accent leading Hazel to believe that he had escaped from the POW camp (a couple of hours away) which was in the process of being deactivated.
Once everyone had gone to bed, Hazel Brown called local authorities to report her suspicions.
Grindelwald who was worn out from his travels failed to pick up on this.
Thanksgiving Day 1945
It was early in the morning when Hazel Brown got up to start cooking breakfast. Her 5 year old niece Shirley was nowhere to be seen.
"Shirley. Shirley."
"I'm in here with Mr. Grindelwald."
Gellert Grindelwald had been up for a couple of hours. He was sitting at a table in the room talking to Shirley.
"I'm sorry Mr. Grindelwald, that my niece bothered you so early in the morning. "
"It's okay. She is a very smart girl, Mrs. Brown. I showed her a couple of card and magic tricks."
Obeying her Aunt, Shirley said goodbye and went downstairs to help her aunt cook breakfast.
"Aunt Hazel, Mr. Grindelwald is a strange looking man."
"Shirley, that's not a nice thing to say."
"He has weird looking eyes."
"Enough Shirley. Please set the table for breakfast."
Usually the boarding house was filled up with US soldiers but on Thanksgiving, Gellert Grindelwald was the only boarder. Bad weather coming in had prevented them from coming. He eat breakfast with Hazel and her nice Shirley.
"I spent 3 years at the camp. I'm going home to Germany."
Hazel Smith knew that Grindelwald had lied to her as the camp in Douglas had housed Italian POWS and it was only after 1944 that German POWS came. She was concerned that he had possibly escaped from the POW camp but then in the last couple of months German POWS had been released. They were taken to the train station in Douglas and shipped out to New York. They didn't stop in any towns or any private homes along the way.
She decided to make no mention of this but would mention it to Police Chief Tanner Green who she had called the night before.
Tanner Green was the police chief of Cheyenne Wyoming. When Grindelwald had gone out for a walk after eating breakfast, Hazel called him and told him what he had said.
"Tell Nancy when he returns. We are going to take him in for questioning today. If we have to arrest him, we will. We don't want to take any chances. This guy is nuts taking a walk as the weather will get worse.
A couple hours later around noon
"Chief Smith, I've been trying to call you for the last couple of hours. Mr. Grindelwald didn't return from his walk. "
"I know. Several people have reported that they have seen him walking in the downtown area. Several officers were dispatched downtown and couldn't find him. We got another report that he was seen walking down the rail road tracks. "
An officer came over to the boarding house and looked around. An empty tattered suitcase was found with nothing in it. When the officer came to the house, he brought Parker McGregor with him.
Parker McGregor was a man who was homeless who often would stay at Hazel's boarding house when it was too cold. He did odd jobs for her in exchange for having a place to stay.
"I heard about this Mr. Grinder whatever his name is. He left town. I saw him downtown trying to leave on a train. He asked me if one left today. I told him no. There's no train going out today. He then started walking down the tracks."
Shortly after the Thanksgiving dinner was completed, the blizzard came in hard and furious. The power and phone went out for several hours..
Shirley couldn't stop thinking about Gellert Grindelwald. She wondered if he'd gotten shelter from the cold. If he hadn't, he was in bad shape. She didn't sleep well that night worrying about him.
After the storm had cleared which was early Friday afternoon, Law Enforcement Officers had gone door to door and building to building looking for Mr. Grindelwald. He was nowhere to be found.
Sheriff Jessie Miller and Police Chief Tanner Smith stood together at a press conference that evening. It was shown at a local move theater. They had a large photo of a man they were looking for.
"This is a picture which was taken of a man named Gellert Grindelwald. He was staying at a boarding house in town. As you can see this man is dressed in a US air force uniform which is not his. He told the owner of the boarding house that he was a German POW who was heading home. We checked with officials at the POW camp in Douglas who don't recognize him and German POW"s who are still at the camp don't recognize this man nor has he ever been a prisoner there. We don't know what his motives are or whether or not he's a spy or engaged in criminal activities. If you see this man, please call police. The last time he was seen was downtown Cheyenne around noon asking someone if he could get a train out of town. He was last seen walking on the train tracks near the downtown area. This was a couple of hours before the blizzard hit, so there is a possibility that if he didn't seek shelter, that he may be deceased. "
After a couple of weeks, the story about Grindelwald was forgotten and the police chief and Sheriff had put the case in a file cabinet where it sat for decades.
