Greetings my little kid-a-roos!

It is I, Doctor I. B. Howler, Nightmarologist. They claim to stick your nose in where it doesn't belong is a bad bet. Hey, watch that axe hung above your head! You may get your schnoz chopped off, kind of like the reporter in my Nightmare did. Here, see for yourself.

A dark chill settled over the morgue. Dim lighting heightened the eerie suspense of the night. Standing alone in the middle of the room, a table held a sealed casket. Like everybody else in town, I had heard the local gossip thar surrounded this embellished granite sarcophagus and pondered why it had not already been planted in the ground?

Some say it had been there three days. Others claimed it was a whole lot longer. Rumored to have the remains of a tiny baby inside, no one dared appoach the thing. I wondered what could be so scary about that? I had seen many corpses in my time. They were nothing new to me.

Wicked tales circulated about this coffin. Seven victims. All of them ripped to pieces by whatever this alleged baby was. That included the town's only law enforcement officer, and six unlucky teens who babysat the child when tragedy befell them.

Who'd ever heard of a serial killer baby before? The thought was preposterous. Being the nosy news reporter I am I fully intended to open that casket.

I mentioned this to a couple close associates. A look of terror crossed their faces. They begged me to leave this case alone and insisted I bury it deep in the ground where it belonged. I should have forgotten the whole incident ever happened.

That was not my style. Nor did their urges satisfy the curiosity welled up inside me about this enigma. I realized this as I made my way into the shadowy room. I don't believe in ghosts or monsters. All those types of things that scare the beejesus out of others as soon as word about them is mentioned never bothered me.

Wolves and vampires are a different story. I have seen them up close and personal. Some have become very good friends of mine. On certain nights, when the moon is right, I have been known to howl myself.

I held a crowbar in my hand as I entered the room. The moment I approached the casket, I smelled the permeated aroma of death. I pried my way around the outside edges and whistled a tune to myself, something about working on a railroad all the live long day. Consumed by my mission, I grew more anxious with each passing moment. I had to get inside that casket and solve this puzzle.

I broke the seal loose and shoved the lid off. Inside, I found a little baby boy. If he had been dead, there were no signs of decomposition. I reached down and picked the infant up in my hands, cradling him. With his hint of blond peach fuzz, he was adorable for a tyke his size.

Enormous fangs and claws snapped out on the baby. He cooed and slashed me. I laid in a scarlet pool of blood. Before I died I watched the baby crawl across the floor and straight for the door.

The nightmare would soon commence with no way to prevent it. What demon spawn had I released upon the face of the Earth? My last thought was when would the body count stop?

My spirit soared up through the Heavens. I Iooked down at my grisled remains. To my horror, the night janitor unceremoniously tossed them into the same casket I had opened. Suddenly, I descended into utter blackness.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "NO! Don't throw my body in that casket like that. NO! Don't drop me into this dark hole. NO! Don't cover me with that dirt. NO! Don't put that marble tablet on the ground next to this hole, the one that reads "R.I.P". No! Don't leave me here alone! NO! This can't really be happening to me."

***THE REST OF THIS STORY TAKES PLACE IN THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL:***

Bound tight from head to toe in cold metallic chains, with a heavy wrought iron ball shackled to my right ankle, I was brought before the Devil. Poor tormented souls roasted in the eternal flames around me. I received my sentence for my crime.

The Devil roared in spiteful laughter and warned me, "Forever you must shadow the demon you loosed on the Earth, always protecting him, and never, ever allowing any harm to come to him. Should you fail you will be fed to the gnashing, swirling demons around you, suffering their same fate!"

Not knowing which of the two choices was the worst, I surveyed the situation I found myself in and swallowed hard.

"Now go!" the Devil laughed out loud.

Still wrapped tight in my chains, I was thrust back upon the Earth to begin my mission. If only I had not stuck my nose into where it did not belong.

Sleep tight now my little kid-a-roos.

Until the next time,


Doctor I. B. Howler
Nightmarologist