Pacific Nocturne, 1944
Page 31
Davis continued describing how a large dark, man, wet and plastered with mud and panting as an animal, broke out of the swamp and onto the road. A military policeman raised his .45 and commanded the dark man to halt. Instead, the man turned and charged the armed military officer. The military policeman shot him three times, close up, with a .45.
“The Ghoul was dead.” Davis concluded, although there was no proof that such a creature, as the Ghoul ever existed. But I believed in him at the time, and so did most of the Marines. Loneliness and a life in which rumor served as a morning newspaper could have created the Ghoul, spread his fame, and killed him off. No one will ever really know.”
When Bob Loring, the preeminent book reviewer of the USMC “Leatherneck Magazine”, questioned fellow Marine Colonel Walter Ford about the 75-year-old rumor, Ford, equally legendary and nonpareil as the editor of the distinguished military magazine for more than three decades, responded,
“Bob,
I had never heard of the Mad Ghoul, but I searched the Leatherneck online archives and found a few mentions of the Mad Ghoul, also referred to as ‘Charlie the Choker’. I recommend you, as a member, access the free online archives and search for the Mad Ghoul and Charlie the Choker. You will find the few Sound Off letters and the ‘We-The Marines’ content on this subject.
In one Sound Off item, you will read how Karl Schuon wrote he ‘placed a blank sheet of paper into the typewriter’ and created the Mad Ghoul on Pavuvu. It is not a true story according to Schuon who was a Marine on the Leatherneck staff in 1947 and penned many fiction articles for the magazine. As well as the many fiction articles in Leatherneck, Karl also wrote a book on bowling and other books.
Search his name as author in the “Leatherneck Magazine” files, and you will see how prolific he was as a writer. He later became the managing editor and wrote the original ‘Home of the Commandants’ book that became a series published by the Leatherneck Association.
Pavuvu was well-known as a ‘pit’ and hated by the Marines, so Schuon’s fiction was highly believable. In reading the old Leatherneck material, you will also note that the Mad Ghoul was left behind on Pavuvu.”
Karl A. Schuon, a native of Allentown, PA, joined the Corps shortly before the end of World War II. In the years that followed, he authorized numerous articles for “Leatherneck Magazine”, served as artist for the “Marine Corps Gazette”, and eventually was named managing editor of the magazine and remained so until his retirement in 1977. In his later years, he served as managing editor of “Leatherneck”. During those years, he authored some 10 books, including the biography of astronaut John Glenn, “Home of the Commandants”, the “U.S. Marine Corps Biographical Dictionary”, and numerous short stories and plays.
So, as for the Ghoul?
Charlie the Choker?
Who will solve the mystery?
THE END
MEET THE AUTHOR
Don DeNevi
Don DeNevi was born in Stockton, California, where his father ran a hardware store. Seeing the Stanley Kramer film “My Six Convicts” at the age of 14 incited a life-long fascination with the psychology of imprisonment and the viability of rehabilitation. In the late 1950s, he interned as a teacher at a prison near Stockton before graduating from College of the Pacific with a B.A. in History. He continued his education at U.C. Berkeley, from which he received his Ed. D in the early 1970s, and has since taught classes such as Criminal Profiling, Organized Crime in America, Classic Crime Cinema and Understanding the Criminal Mind at multiple colleges throughout the Bay Area. In addition, Don was Recreation Director at San Quentin State Prison for 15 years, where he introduced a comprehensive recreation program and built the prison’s first tennis court. The author of dozens of books, Don is a prolific writer and a fan favorite for many readers.