I remember reading this one in a "Weird Stories" book when I was about Oliver's age. It stuck with me.
The Curious Case of Oliver Larch
South Bend, Indiana, Christmas Eve, 1889
It was December 24, 1889. The Larch family was having a Christmas party. The landscape was bright with new-fallen snow, yet, heavy clouds hung low, making the sky as black as coal as snow continued to fall. The windows of the house glowed with the warm, cheerful, light of the party, as family and friends finished up the evening meal. The merry guests, included a lawyer from Chicago, a long-time friend of the family, a judge from South Bend, and a local minister and his wife.
A few minutes before ten o’clock, Mr. Larch asked his young son, eleven-year-old Oliver, to run out to the well for a bucket of water to refill the drinking-water crock. By now the snow was about six inches deep. Oliver put on his coat and some over shoes, took up a bucket, and, headed out the door toward the well which was about 75 feet from the house.
Just as Mr. Larch returned to his guests, they all heard a chilling scream from outside!
Help me! Help! They’ve got me! Help!
Mr. Larch and some of the guests jumped up to rush outside to help Oliver. As Mr. Larch and the others, threw open the door and lunged into the night, they were met with a shocking silence. Only the falling of the snow could be heard. Oliver was not there. Literally, not more than seconds had passed from the time he walked out of the house, to hearing his screams. Holding a lantern high, and walking, they followed the boys tracks. But the tracks ended half way to the well. They stood in stunned silence, not comprehending how this could be. Then, the quiet was shattered as they heard poor Oliver scream again.
Oliver’s screams were not coming from out in the woods, they were coming from up above, from somewhere overhead, in that blackened sky. They could not see him; they could not help him. All they could do is stand, in stunned silence staring up, into the darkness.
Help! Help! They’ve got me!……..help!……….help!
Later, the authorities investigated, interviewing everyone ai the party, searching the woods and, in fact, all over the area. They turned up nothing the stricken family didn’t already know. The evidence clearly showed that Oliver never made it to the well. His tracks simply stopped. Yet, there were no hot air balloons in the area, and no bird in the area, no two or three birds, could be big enough to take hold of a sturdy boy like Oliver and, launch them both back into the air. It was simply impossible, yet, something carried the boy away in front of a half dozen witnesses.
Oliver was never found. To this day, no one has ever explained how a young boy stepped off a porch for a bucket of water, and, vanished into the night sky.
The Curious Case of Oliver Larch
South Bend, Indiana, Christmas Eve, 1889
It was December 24, 1889. The Larch family was having a Christmas party. The landscape was bright with new-fallen snow, yet, heavy clouds hung low, making the sky as black as coal as snow continued to fall. The windows of the house glowed with the warm, cheerful, light of the party, as family and friends finished up the evening meal. The merry guests, included a lawyer from Chicago, a long-time friend of the family, a judge from South Bend, and a local minister and his wife.
A few minutes before ten o’clock, Mr. Larch asked his young son, eleven-year-old Oliver, to run out to the well for a bucket of water to refill the drinking-water crock. By now the snow was about six inches deep. Oliver put on his coat and some over shoes, took up a bucket, and, headed out the door toward the well which was about 75 feet from the house.
Just as Mr. Larch returned to his guests, they all heard a chilling scream from outside!
Help me! Help! They’ve got me! Help!
Mr. Larch and some of the guests jumped up to rush outside to help Oliver. As Mr. Larch and the others, threw open the door and lunged into the night, they were met with a shocking silence. Only the falling of the snow could be heard. Oliver was not there. Literally, not more than seconds had passed from the time he walked out of the house, to hearing his screams. Holding a lantern high, and walking, they followed the boys tracks. But the tracks ended half way to the well. They stood in stunned silence, not comprehending how this could be. Then, the quiet was shattered as they heard poor Oliver scream again.
Oliver’s screams were not coming from out in the woods, they were coming from up above, from somewhere overhead, in that blackened sky. They could not see him; they could not help him. All they could do is stand, in stunned silence staring up, into the darkness.
Help! Help! They’ve got me!……..help!……….help!
Later, the authorities investigated, interviewing everyone ai the party, searching the woods and, in fact, all over the area. They turned up nothing the stricken family didn’t already know. The evidence clearly showed that Oliver never made it to the well. His tracks simply stopped. Yet, there were no hot air balloons in the area, and no bird in the area, no two or three birds, could be big enough to take hold of a sturdy boy like Oliver and, launch them both back into the air. It was simply impossible, yet, something carried the boy away in front of a half dozen witnesses.
Oliver was never found. To this day, no one has ever explained how a young boy stepped off a porch for a bucket of water, and, vanished into the night sky.
