The Scarecrow Man

Story by Jeremy Broadwater

I have had a fascination with scarecrows my entire life. They can be anyone or anything. You can build one with straw, grass, leaves or if you are a murderer you can disguise your victims as scarecrows…. Well, until the smell catches up to them. I think sometimes scarecrows have a mind of their own. For example, have you ever been looking at something in front of you and catch a glimpse of an object out of your peripheral vision? The whole time you could swear it was moving but you come to find out it was only your eyes deceiving you… or at least you hoped it was? This is how it his with me when it comes to scarecrows.

This story is about a young man named Ted Mills who is a hardworking and a great student at college. You can say he is a well-respected man. Ted loves to decorate for Halloween, in fact, he won the best-decorated house in his community. I don't know if any of you remember last year the tragedy that occurred about a man whose decoration almost killed him. No? well, let me refresh your memory.

Last year, early Halloween morning Ted was awoken by strange rustling noises right outside of his window where his favorite decoration, a scarecrow, was located. He hoped it wasn't neighborhood children fooling with his decorations. As he crept up to the window making sure not to make a sound so that he wouldn't alert anybody who would be messing around. To his surprise, no one was there. The scarecrow and all other decorations were untouched. Not being able to understand where the noises were coming from and since it was almost time for Ted to wake up anyway, he decided to get ready for school.

 Later that night, Ted got home, ready for the day to be over with. He sat there in his car looking admiringly at his decorations. It was going to be the last night for the decorations before putting them away for the year. It was at this moment something strange caught his eye. Movement? From his peripheral vision he could see the scarecrow underneath the tree he was nailed to, to make him stand. He thought he saw the scarecrow turn his head and look at him for a good minute before Ted speedily turned his head to catch the Scarecrow, but it looked normal and in the same position as it always has.

While Ted was laying down to sleep, he was disturbed by the noises outside his window where the scarecrow was stationed. He made his way to the window and found nothing as before but as he went to turn around to go back to bed, he heard a loud "snap, crack and pop." He turned. As he looked out at where the scarecrow was his heart skipped beats. The scarecrow was gone. What had happened to his decoration?  Ted was bewildered and confused. Bang! the back door broke open. Ted, scared to the point of being faintish, ran to the back hallway of the house to see what had happened. His knees are buckling as he stood there looking out the back door into the dark and moonless night.

Ted stood by the back door, motionless in fear, as the realization that someone or something has invaded his house. He ran to the bedroom where he would be safe. Ted closed the door and locked it. He was alone in the darkened room. Ted had to do something and calling for help seemed like the best idea for the situation he was currently in. unknown to Ted as he attempted to call help, behind him the open closet door began to close and behind it was the scarecrow. Closer and closer the shape came to Ted. In one aggressive lunge, Ted was seized by the scarecrow and was being choked. Ted broke free from its grips then jumped and rolled across the bed to put something in between himself and the scarecrow.

Ted could not believe what he was witnessing. Ted kept asking the scarecrow "who are you" and "what do you want" but the scarecrow stood silently in front of Ted with the street lights glowing on its featureless face. The burlap sack face of the scarecrow looked at Ted with an emotionless stare and the eyes caught the light from outside, which made it look like there was hellfire within the black holes. The scarecrow drew a knife and pointed it at Ted before he lunged again. 

At that moment the police entered. They yelled for Ted to take cover and shot the scarecrow over a dozen times. It laid there and died. The sheriff told Ted how lucky he was for being alive and that two days ago a man escaped from prison. It just so happened that these two police officers were on this route looking over the neighborhood as they saw Ted's house and the scarecrow leave its post and enter Ted's house. They saw the disturbance and thought it would be a great time to act. We never know just how lucky we are until things get out of hand. we never know who or what is lurking out there waiting to be our demise.

THE END