| General Fiction posted May 4, 2023 |
  |
Short Story
The Granite Falls Gorger
by Lyle Nußbaum
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
Early one summer morning, a group of ornithologists hiking in the Granite Falls State Park made a gruesome discovery. While eagerly looking for a rare gyrfalcon that had been reported in the area, they stumbled upon the remains of a transient affectionately known as "Possum" by the locals. Possum was found lying on his back on a picnic table. His usually crumpled clothing was torn and bloodied. His throat had been ripped out, the soft part of his belly had been burrowed into, his face had been gnawed, and his right forearm was chewed down to the bone. As soon as the group had hiked out and regained phone reception, they called the authorities, who came out, assessed the situation, and took the body to the coroner. The next morning, the local newspaper, The Stone Tablets, ran an article about the finding and warned hikers to be wary of an unidentified ferocious animal lurking in the woods.
Two days later, a woman was reported missing by her husband. She had gone for a run and never returned. Her car was discovered in one of the designated parking areas near a trailhead in the park. This time, search and rescue dogs were called in to aid in the search. While the team was out looking for the missing woman, the coroner informed the police of a startling development in the hobo incident. Judging by the size of the bites and the indentations left by the teeth, the coroner had concluded that the wounds had not been inflicted by an animal but, rather, by a human mouth. Armed with this knowledge, the park was closed indefinitely until the culprit was apprehended.
The first day passed with no discovery and had to be called off for the night. The next morning the search party began where they had left off. Later that afternoon, the body of the jogger was found secreted away in a den near a rocky crag. The body had been mutilated in similar ways to Possum, though more of the flesh had been consumed; there was no sign of sexual assault nor of the perpetrator, who had probably fed more than once on this particular kill. The body was extracted and a team of six police officers remained behind to stake out the lair in hopes of the attacker's return.
Around noon the next day, the team apprehended a bearded, naked, feral man. The dogs advanced, snarling, chasing him into a gully. He was defensive and flailed with his fingers splayed like claws, making guttural, animalistic noises. Before the police team arrived, he had grabbed one of the dogs and sunk his teeth into the furry coat; the dog promptly bit him in return. Once the men arrived with their guns, the psychopath became docile and compliant. He was restrained and placed in the local jail. Word of his capture spread like wildfire. The next day, his third and final victim was discovered. The partially devoured corpse of an elderly man who lived near the boundary of the state park had been found in the garden by his son, who checked in on him weekly.
For six days, the Granite Falls Gorger, as he had come to be known, had terrorized our small community. Now that he was in custody, we could all breathe a little easier. The Gorger's name was Daniel Silver; he had elected to represent himself. The Honorable Judge Adam Quill presided over the trial several months later. Although the initial facts of the case were strange, as soon as the accused took the stand, it became even more bizarre.
The trial opened with the judge reading the accusations, "Mr. Silver, you are accused of three counts of first degree murder, three counts of desecration of a corpse, cannibalism, and public indecency. How do you plead?"
The defendant stood and looking directly at the judge clearly stated, "Not guilty."
After a moment of shocked silence, the court proceedings began. The prosecuting attorney presented the evidence of the state: crime scene photos, the coroner reports, Daniel Silver's dental records, hair and saliva samples taken from the bodies matching Daniel's DNA, blood samples taken from Daniel's body on the day that he was arrested that matched the victims' blood types, and the state in which he had been found upon apprehension. All of these evidences went undisputed; Daniel Silver did not even cross-question any of the witnesses or experts called to testify against him. The damning evidence had accumulated in such a way that there was no question as to the defendant's guilt or how the jury would sentence him, a seemingly open and shut case. Then the defendant took the stand and everything changed.
When it came time for the Gorger to swear his oath, he refused.
"On what grounds do you refuse to swear the oath?" asked the judge.
"On the grounds that I am a lion and lions do not swear oaths."
The courtroom grew quiet. If anyone had questioned his sanity before, it was obvious now that the man was insane.
The judge asked incredulously, "You are a lion?"
"That is correct, sir," the prisoner stated matter-of-factly.
"What makes you believe that I will put up with such nonsense in my court?" questioned the judge.
"Because I have told you what I truly am and, now, you must accept it."
"Why must I accept it? If you are a lion, where is your mane? Why are you wearing clothes? This is absurd."
"In answer to your questions, my mane was shorn from my face, despite my protests, upon my incarceration. The clothes I am now wearing are not my own; they were given to me by the state. When I was apprehended, I was in my natural state. As far as why you have to accept my statement about myself, the court has set numerous precedents in this area. You have brought my claim into question by focusing on my lack of the physical attributes of a lion. Just because I do not look like a lion, I feel like a lion; I am a lion trapped in a man's body. We live in an age of self-definition; anyone can claim to be something one does not appear to be but if proclaimed loud enough everyone must accept the view. The court have acknowledged people of one gender to be the opposite gender based solely on their claims to be so, regardless of the fact that they are not anatomically or genetically aligned with what one claims to be. If you will deny my claim to be a lion, you must overturn every case granting restroom access to transgendered people or discrimination cases against the same. If I am crazy, they are crazy. If my claim is not valid, then neither is theirs."
"This is highly unusual," said the judge, "though I will allow you to continue without swearing the oath. Proceed."
The accused beamed an exultant smile, then continued, "As a lion, I was acting on my natural instincts as I stalked my prey; this is who I am, I cannot change it. I do not deny that these people were my victims, only that it was not murder."
"Now you speak in riddles," interrupted the judge, "You admit killing these people but deny that it was murder. On what grounds?"
"Simply because murder involves one person killing another person and we have determined that I am not a person. My act was performed to satisfy a need, my hunger, not killing for killing's sake. When a wild animal kills or maims a person, it is not put on trial; therefore, neither should I. Also, in a like manner, all the other accusations are inapplicable. Desecration of a corpse and cannibalism are not prosecutable crimes when a result of an animal feeding on its kill; do you prosecute the vultures that also partook of my victims' flesh? Finally, public indecency does not apply to a lion because lions never wear clothes. Therefore, on all counts, I have plead not guilty and maintain my innocence."
"That is your defense?" questioned the judge.
"It is," stated the defendant.
The prosecutor did not question the witness, determining his testimony to be damaging enough already. Then the judge turned to the jury and prepared to send them off to determine the sentencing. At which point, Daniel Silver jumped to his feet and shouted, "I object!"
"To what do you object?" asked Judge Quill.
"To a jury determining my fate," replied the Gorger, "I have the right to be tried by a jury of my peers; these people are not lions and, therefore, not my peers."
"What would you have me do?"
"Release me, for this trial is a sham."
"I cannot release you," said the judge, "though we agree that this trial is degrading quickly into a mockery of justice. If you were a wild animal that was known to be violent, you would be hunted down and killed, not released back into the wild."
"But I am a lion, an endangered species," protested the Gorger. "You cannot kill me."
"To the contrary," the judge responded, "I can have you shot like a rabid dog. You have waived your right to a trial by jury and now I will determine your fate myself. Mr. Silver, you claim to be a lion. I will give you the trial of your peers that you desire. You will be taken from this courtroom immediately, stripped of the clothes you were forced to wear, thus returning you to your natural state, and placed in the zoo with the other lions; they shall determine your fate."
As Judge Quill spoke his decision, a look of horror slowly passed over Daniel Silver's face. "That is cruel and unusual punishment, Your Honor," he countered.
The judge turned to the defendant with a cunning smile and said, "The constitution applies to citizens of the United States of America and you, my friend, are a lion; it does not apply to you. Where it would be cruel and unusual to place a human being in a cage with wild animals, to place a lion with other lions is not unusual but, on the contrary, commonplace." The Gorger realized he had been beaten at his own game.
With that, the Gorger was taken to St. Paul and placed in the lion exhibit at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. He was stripped and returned to his natural state, just as the judge had ordered. At first, the lions ignored the new occupant in their cage, preferring to laze about in the sun while he cowered in the corner. After a while, he became bolder and moved around the enclosure; the lions were familiar with humans and still paid him no mind. Finally, the fateful event occurred. The zookeepers came with slabs of raw meat, throwing them to the hungry beasts. The Gorger was hungry, too, and latched onto a bloody chunk of beef. As he feasted, the blood ran down his chin, chest, and arms.
After the lions had finished their meal, they noticed the man tearing at the tasty morsel. They, too, desired it. Surrounding the hapless man, they proceeded to tear his meal from him. Smelling the scent of blood on him, they proceeded to tear at his flesh with their teeth. He tried to fight back with his own "claws" but found them inadequate against a true predator's talons. His screams pierced the enclave and soon grew silent. The Gorger was no more.
A stranger case, I have never witnessed, and I hope that I never see another to rival it. However strange, the ruling was just. The devourer had been devoured; the one worthy of death was dead; justice had been served.
National Tell a Story Day contest entry
Early one summer morning, a group of ornithologists hiking in the Granite Falls State Park made a gruesome discovery. While eagerly looking for a rare gyrfalcon that had been reported in the area, they stumbled upon the remains of a transient affectionately known as "Possum" by the locals. Possum was found lying on his back on a picnic table. His usually crumpled clothing was torn and bloodied. His throat had been ripped out, the soft part of his belly had been burrowed into, his face had been gnawed, and his right forearm was chewed down to the bone. As soon as the group had hiked out and regained phone reception, they called the authorities, who came out, assessed the situation, and took the body to the coroner. The next morning, the local newspaper, The Stone Tablets, ran an article about the finding and warned hikers to be wary of an unidentified ferocious animal lurking in the woods.
Two days later, a woman was reported missing by her husband. She had gone for a run and never returned. Her car was discovered in one of the designated parking areas near a trailhead in the park. This time, search and rescue dogs were called in to aid in the search. While the team was out looking for the missing woman, the coroner informed the police of a startling development in the hobo incident. Judging by the size of the bites and the indentations left by the teeth, the coroner had concluded that the wounds had not been inflicted by an animal but, rather, by a human mouth. Armed with this knowledge, the park was closed indefinitely until the culprit was apprehended.
The first day passed with no discovery and had to be called off for the night. The next morning the search party began where they had left off. Later that afternoon, the body of the jogger was found secreted away in a den near a rocky crag. The body had been mutilated in similar ways to Possum, though more of the flesh had been consumed; there was no sign of sexual assault nor of the perpetrator, who had probably fed more than once on this particular kill. The body was extracted and a team of six police officers remained behind to stake out the lair in hopes of the attacker's return.
Around noon the next day, the team apprehended a bearded, naked, feral man. The dogs advanced, snarling, chasing him into a gully. He was defensive and flailed with his fingers splayed like claws, making guttural, animalistic noises. Before the police team arrived, he had grabbed one of the dogs and sunk his teeth into the furry coat; the dog promptly bit him in return. Once the men arrived with their guns, the psychopath became docile and compliant. He was restrained and placed in the local jail. Word of his capture spread like wildfire. The next day, his third and final victim was discovered. The partially devoured corpse of an elderly man who lived near the boundary of the state park had been found in the garden by his son, who checked in on him weekly.
For six days, the Granite Falls Gorger, as he had come to be known, had terrorized our small community. Now that he was in custody, we could all breathe a little easier. The Gorger's name was Daniel Silver; he had elected to represent himself. The Honorable Judge Adam Quill presided over the trial several months later. Although the initial facts of the case were strange, as soon as the accused took the stand, it became even more bizarre.
The trial opened with the judge reading the accusations, "Mr. Silver, you are accused of three counts of first degree murder, three counts of desecration of a corpse, cannibalism, and public indecency. How do you plead?"
The defendant stood and looking directly at the judge clearly stated, "Not guilty."
After a moment of shocked silence, the court proceedings began. The prosecuting attorney presented the evidence of the state: crime scene photos, the coroner reports, Daniel Silver's dental records, hair and saliva samples taken from the bodies matching Daniel's DNA, blood samples taken from Daniel's body on the day that he was arrested that matched the victims' blood types, and the state in which he had been found upon apprehension. All of these evidences went undisputed; Daniel Silver did not even cross-question any of the witnesses or experts called to testify against him. The damning evidence had accumulated in such a way that there was no question as to the defendant's guilt or how the jury would sentence him, a seemingly open and shut case. Then the defendant took the stand and everything changed.
When it came time for the Gorger to swear his oath, he refused.
"On what grounds do you refuse to swear the oath?" asked the judge.
"On the grounds that I am a lion and lions do not swear oaths."
The courtroom grew quiet. If anyone had questioned his sanity before, it was obvious now that the man was insane.
The judge asked incredulously, "You are a lion?"
"That is correct, sir," the prisoner stated matter-of-factly.
"What makes you believe that I will put up with such nonsense in my court?" questioned the judge.
"Because I have told you what I truly am and, now, you must accept it."
"Why must I accept it? If you are a lion, where is your mane? Why are you wearing clothes? This is absurd."
"In answer to your questions, my mane was shorn from my face, despite my protests, upon my incarceration. The clothes I am now wearing are not my own; they were given to me by the state. When I was apprehended, I was in my natural state. As far as why you have to accept my statement about myself, the court has set numerous precedents in this area. You have brought my claim into question by focusing on my lack of the physical attributes of a lion. Just because I do not look like a lion, I feel like a lion; I am a lion trapped in a man's body. We live in an age of self-definition; anyone can claim to be something one does not appear to be but if proclaimed loud enough everyone must accept the view. The court have acknowledged people of one gender to be the opposite gender based solely on their claims to be so, regardless of the fact that they are not anatomically or genetically aligned with what one claims to be. If you will deny my claim to be a lion, you must overturn every case granting restroom access to transgendered people or discrimination cases against the same. If I am crazy, they are crazy. If my claim is not valid, then neither is theirs."
"This is highly unusual," said the judge, "though I will allow you to continue without swearing the oath. Proceed."
The accused beamed an exultant smile, then continued, "As a lion, I was acting on my natural instincts as I stalked my prey; this is who I am, I cannot change it. I do not deny that these people were my victims, only that it was not murder."
"Now you speak in riddles," interrupted the judge, "You admit killing these people but deny that it was murder. On what grounds?"
"Simply because murder involves one person killing another person and we have determined that I am not a person. My act was performed to satisfy a need, my hunger, not killing for killing's sake. When a wild animal kills or maims a person, it is not put on trial; therefore, neither should I. Also, in a like manner, all the other accusations are inapplicable. Desecration of a corpse and cannibalism are not prosecutable crimes when a result of an animal feeding on its kill; do you prosecute the vultures that also partook of my victims' flesh? Finally, public indecency does not apply to a lion because lions never wear clothes. Therefore, on all counts, I have plead not guilty and maintain my innocence."
"That is your defense?" questioned the judge.
"It is," stated the defendant.
The prosecutor did not question the witness, determining his testimony to be damaging enough already. Then the judge turned to the jury and prepared to send them off to determine the sentencing. At which point, Daniel Silver jumped to his feet and shouted, "I object!"
"To what do you object?" asked Judge Quill.
"To a jury determining my fate," replied the Gorger, "I have the right to be tried by a jury of my peers; these people are not lions and, therefore, not my peers."
"What would you have me do?"
"Release me, for this trial is a sham."
"I cannot release you," said the judge, "though we agree that this trial is degrading quickly into a mockery of justice. If you were a wild animal that was known to be violent, you would be hunted down and killed, not released back into the wild."
"But I am a lion, an endangered species," protested the Gorger. "You cannot kill me."
"To the contrary," the judge responded, "I can have you shot like a rabid dog. You have waived your right to a trial by jury and now I will determine your fate myself. Mr. Silver, you claim to be a lion. I will give you the trial of your peers that you desire. You will be taken from this courtroom immediately, stripped of the clothes you were forced to wear, thus returning you to your natural state, and placed in the zoo with the other lions; they shall determine your fate."
As Judge Quill spoke his decision, a look of horror slowly passed over Daniel Silver's face. "That is cruel and unusual punishment, Your Honor," he countered.
The judge turned to the defendant with a cunning smile and said, "The constitution applies to citizens of the United States of America and you, my friend, are a lion; it does not apply to you. Where it would be cruel and unusual to place a human being in a cage with wild animals, to place a lion with other lions is not unusual but, on the contrary, commonplace." The Gorger realized he had been beaten at his own game.
With that, the Gorger was taken to St. Paul and placed in the lion exhibit at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. He was stripped and returned to his natural state, just as the judge had ordered. At first, the lions ignored the new occupant in their cage, preferring to laze about in the sun while he cowered in the corner. After a while, he became bolder and moved around the enclosure; the lions were familiar with humans and still paid him no mind. Finally, the fateful event occurred. The zookeepers came with slabs of raw meat, throwing them to the hungry beasts. The Gorger was hungry, too, and latched onto a bloody chunk of beef. As he feasted, the blood ran down his chin, chest, and arms.
After the lions had finished their meal, they noticed the man tearing at the tasty morsel. They, too, desired it. Surrounding the hapless man, they proceeded to tear his meal from him. Smelling the scent of blood on him, they proceeded to tear at his flesh with their teeth. He tried to fight back with his own "claws" but found them inadequate against a true predator's talons. His screams pierced the enclave and soon grew silent. The Gorger was no more.
A stranger case, I have never witnessed, and I hope that I never see another to rival it. However strange, the ruling was just. The devourer had been devoured; the one worthy of death was dead; justice had been served.
Artwork by supergold at FanArtReview.com
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