 Short Stories: April 17, 2019 Issue [#9450] |
This week: The Man Who Wasn't There Edited by: Shannon  
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Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week.
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"Antigonish" written in 1899 by William Hughes Mearns
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish I wish he'd go away...
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...
My newsletters are usually inspired by something I've seen or read that intrigues me. This month's edition is no exception.
When I was a teenager I loved the television series Voyagers! about a stubborn, womanizing time traveler named Phineas Bogg (played by Jon-Erik Hexum, may he rest in peace) and his young sidekick Jeffrey Jones (Meeno Peluce). Phineas's handheld Omni device would alert him to incidents throughout history that needed correcting. The duo would then travel to that time period, fix the problem, and move on to their next adventure. The series aired for only one season (1982-1983) before being canceled, but my fascination with time travel remained.
Then in 1989 NBC aired Quantum Leap. The show "starred Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physicist who leaps through spacetime during an experiment in time travel, by temporarily taking the place of other people to correct historical mistakes." This series was much more popular than Voyagers! and remained on air for five seasons.
The idea of time travel and people appearing out of nowhere is intriguing. Why are they here? Who are they? Where are they from? Where are they going? Some of the most interesting cases of people without pasts, many of which are still unsolved to this day, are:
 Lori Kennedy met Jon Blakely “Blake” Ruff, son of a prominent oil magnate, at a Bible study group in Arlington Texas in 2003. Lori said she was an only child and both of her parents were dead. Blake never questioned her. The couple eloped in 2004 and welcomed a daughter in 2008. Blake's family noticed Lori's behavior begin to change. She was odd, standoffish, and downright peculiar. When asked what she wanted for Christmas Lori replied, "An Easy Bake Oven." She never left her daughter's side and often refused to allow anyone else to hold her. The Ruff family soon washed their hands of her; in 2010 Blake moved out and filed for divorce.
On Christmas Eve 2010 Lori parked her vehicle outside her inlaws' home and shot herself in the head. Her estranged husband's father, Jon, found her later that morning. After her death, a search of Lori's filthy home revealed a lockbox containing random scraps of paper with writing on them, a faked letter of recommendation written by Roger Steinbeck, and an Idaho ID card and California birth certificate in the name of Becky Sue Turner. Soon after, "Lori Ruff was added to the federal database of missing and unidentified persons" (1). It would be years before this mystery was solved.
In 1954 a sharply dressed businessman presented a passport which stated he was from the country of Taured to a customs agent at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. This trip, the man said, was but one of many he'd taken that year. Indeed, the man's passport was embellished with stamps proving he'd traveled to Spain and other places around the globe. The man was bearded, spoke several languages fluently, and claimed French was his native tongue. When informed that "Taured" doesn't exist the man became agitated, insisting he be presented with a map. The man indicated his homeland, Taured, to be the country situated between France and Spain--a country called Andorra on the map. Confused, officials decided to hold the man overnight in a local hotel while they investigated further. Two armed guards were placed outside the businessman's hotel room door. When they opened the room the following morning the man was gone, as were all of his personal effects that had been locked away by airport security. (2)
In the mid-1100s, two green-skinned children appeared out of nowhere in the small village of Woolpit, England. The didn't speak any language the villagers could understand and would only eat raw fava beans. Eventually, the siblings learned to eat other foods, got baptized, and lost the green color of their skin. The boy got sick and died soon after, but "the girl explained that she and her brother had come from Saint Martin's Land, a subterranean world inhabited by green people" (3).
In 1950 a man sporting muttonchops and wearing Victorian-era clothing appeared in Times Square. He seemed confused, wide-eyed as he stared at the cars and signs in bewilderment. When the traffic light changed a taxi plowed into the man, killing him instantly. In his pockets were 19th-century coins, $70 in banknotes, a letter postmarked 1876, a livery stable bill, and business cards with the name "Rudolph Fentz" on them. And so begins one of the most popular urban legends of our time. The story has been retold repeatedly as fact when in fact it is fiction, originating as a short story titled "I'm Scared" by Jack Finney for Collier's on September 15, 1951. If you want to read the story in its entirety, click here and choose "I'm Scared" from the list. This will only give you the first two pages of the tale, however, at which point you must go back, click on "Behind the Johnson Grass Curtain" and scroll to page 78 for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say.
The Green Children of Woolpit, The Man from Taured, Rudolph Fentz, Lori Ruff, Kaspar Hauser, Joseph Vorin, John Titor, The Philadelphia Experiment, Eduard Albert Meier, Project Pegasus, Victor Goddard. Where did these people come from? Where did they go? Is teleportation possible? Does time travel really exist? There are numerous teleportation videos on the internet; you be the judge.
Have you written a story about time travel? Has your protagonist teleported through centuries? Share your stories with the WDC community and I will include them in next month's newsletter.
Thank you for reading.
P.S. Every registered author who shares their ideas and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive trinket. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket at 11:59 p.m. WDC time on Tuesday, May 14, 2019, when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
Further Reading:
1. Kimberly McLean
2. Man Without a Country
3. Green Children of Woolpit
4. The Curious Case of Rudolph Fentz |
I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. I occasionally feature static items by members who are no longer with us; some have passed away while others simply aren't active members. Their absence doesn't render their work any less relevant, and if it fits the week's topic I will include it.
Thank you, and have a great week!
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The following is in response to "The Epitome of Evil" :
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Princess Megan Snow Rose  writes: Child Abuse is so awful. What is wrong with people? I worked in mental health and we had some child sex offenders. It was hard to have compassion for them. Murdering children? You covered a lot of sad material here that people should be aware of and do all they can to protect their children. Good references and looks like you did good research. Chilling but this stuff happens. So sad. Thanks for sharing a informative newsletter.
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Lilli 🧿 ☕  writes: Another intriguing newsletter! Well done! I also watch a lot, probably too much, Investigation Discovery. Somehow I missed the show you mentioned, Children of the Snow. I will have to look for it. Thanks for a great newsletter, as always!
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Quick-Quill  writes: I listened to a podcast about The White House Boys. The Dozier school for boys. This story freaked me out too. I also heard a podcast on the Children of the Snow.I've included the first part of an interview about this story. You can look it up for more information. https://www.pbs.org/video/aware-dozier-school-boys-part-1-white-house-boys/
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes: There's a lot of things out there.
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Bikerider  writes: Another enlightening newsletter, Shannon. During my nearly 25 years in law enforcement I investigated more child abuse cases than I can count. Unfortunately, the story about Fox Island, with its privileged offenders escaping justice, doesn't surprise me. It is beyond dispute that slick, influential lawyers, and lax judges favor the rich and privileged; judges that hand down lenient sentences even after the offender is convicted by a jury.
That's not to say that no harsh sentences are ever handed down for perpetrators of these heinous acts, but there is no consistency to the punishment meted out, no guidelines a judge must adhere to, and that leaves a lot of room for money and influence to play a part in the sentencing of those convicted.
Add to that the lax sentencing guidelines prisons need to follow. Few, if any, offenders ever serve their full sentence. I worked a case where a man sexually assaulted his step-daughter for 3 years, from age 9 until age 11. He was convicted of multiple charges of child sexual assault and sentenced to 21 years in prison. All the local officials took a bow; the judge, the prosecutor, and some of the local elected officials. What did they not tell the press? What did the reporters not bother to ask? How much of the sentence would the offender actually serve. Because he was given three, seven year sentences, all running concurrently, he was actually serving a 7 year sentence. For time served for good behavior, sentencing guidelines, and parole, he was out in three years. And to make the matter even more sickening, the victims mother took him back upon his release. Is it any wonder so many children fall victim to this terrible crime?
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dragonwoman  writes: Unfortunately, it is still not hard for pedophiles to do what they do. Many children are ignored, terrorized and treated like less then human in their own families. They are separated from contact with their peers by media overload. They can be convinced these predators care more than their own families. I believe that some families are in a vicious cycle where the parents were neglected or abused and they know no other way to behave with children. I must admit to feeling most pedophiles will not reform and therefore should be removed permanently from society and not by jails or hospitals either.
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~Brian K Compton~ writes: Thought provoking. I wonder about this all the time. So many suicides that made no sense. And it's easy to slip someone drugs. I'm a very guarded person since I believe I was the victim of a drugging in 1982 at a wedding reception a friend and I crashed.
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The Ink Maiden~ writes: I wanted to tell you that this was a great newsletter. It's true that a lot of writers shy away from these subjects and it's truly sad because these are things everyone should be aware of. As I writer, I want to try my best to write about such things no matter the backlash I get. Sexual abuse has always stood out to me and I want people aware of it.
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QueenNormaJean maybesnow?!  writes: So sad to read of this, I had no idea Houston was this hub of such awful activity. I watched as much of the video as I could. It just made me mad/sad. And then to think someone could buy an island for their own sick use, well, sure of course they could. Well, that is just wrong. But the world is full of evil, it has been since Adam and Eve sinned, But we don't have to like it. And we have to keep uncovering it every chance we get. As writers, our job is to let the public know when something is wrong, or why are we here?
Sorry to say I never heard of Fox Island before I read this. Disturbing to say the least. But be sure God will have His day in all this. Criminals, especially those who traffic in children will be punished. Thank you for the information.
Norma Jean Trent
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sindbad  writes: Hi, Shannon. This is a intresting and rather thought provoking article, natural law works in a mysterious ways and people probing and researching the efficacy is interesting and the kind of reaction causing death is rather unfortunate. It will go a long way to bring enlightment to our existence.
Sindbad
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Jeff  writes: I have the utmost respect for writers (or anyone, really) who make the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of their calling. Especially when it comes to journalists, documentarians, historians, etc. who are committed to shining a light on those areas of our world that often hide in the darkness and telling the stories of those who can't speak for themselves.
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textual writes: That is an intense story, Here is some more hard hitting truth; https://youtu.be/A3_vqU_qCoA
Send me a trinket.
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Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: Being almost abducted, abused or any other such crime is/can be frightening when young. I experienced two such instances. One I could have avoided by not getting in someone's car when I was a teen. (I thought I knew the person) He wanted to have sex I, obviously, did not. I opened the passenger door so fast it hit the wall we were parked next to and he became more worried about his car than me. Thus I was able to escape the situation. The other instance I was being stalked and the person grabbed me from behind. Luckily I knew some self-defense. My elbows met his stomach and I ran when he let go. Though I escaped both instances, I was scared in both and am thankful that my parents taught me well what to do and gave me the tools to survive.
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⭐Princette♥PengthuluWrites  writes: I write stories about child abuse all the time. It's part catharsis and if it makes people think about it (and hopefully DO something about it in real life to help), then all the better.
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charitykountz writes: I wish I had words for how sad these types of crimes make me. They fill me with terror for my own children. I am trying to teach them both to be very careful who they associate with. Insightful and well researched, thank you!
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eyestar~* writes: Oh Wow! You do bring to light so many issues that would like to stay hidden. This is so dark and sad and yet as you say abuse fo kids has a long history much as any other dark crimes. We still have a polarity in the collective..the light and dark. Awareness and action is key. Thanks for keeping us enLightened.
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queenkissy writes: I also remember the "Satanic Scare" pretty well. I was just telling my daughter about it the other day. Once again the media was trying to use religion as a smokescreen for just plain evil.
In my opinion.
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Shanachie writes: This gives some very interesting food for thought. I grew up near Palmyra, NY where they had a series of kidnappings/killings of young kids. I can remember going from being allowed to play outside by myself to only being allowed to be outside while being supervised to being allowed outside again when I was a teenager. I lived there in the late 80s early 90s. Unfortunately I can't remember the exact case right now.
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