"Weirder Than Weird" 18 Bizarre Tales From a Disturbed Mind

by Francis Burger

“Upon arrival at Palo, I immediately rented a horse and set out for Devil’s Tower. I didn’t linger in town this time, for I was a man possessed with one mission in life: To kill the creature that insisted upon haunting my very soul.

  “Hours later, I arrived at the tower and my heart was pounding so hard that I was

  certain I would pass out at any moment. I pulled a camera from my backpack and took a few photos of the tower. I decided earlier that I might write a book on my experiences, provided of course, I got back alive. I grabbed a long coil of rope from one of the saddle bags and proceeded on foot to the rear of the tower. As I rounded the building, I stopped and stared in wonder at the old tree growing out of the rock wall. I never had seen it this close before and it looked quite magnificent in the daylight.

  “Wasting no time, I tied off one end of the rope around a large boulder and tossed the rest of the coil over the side. I shimmied my way down the rope until I came to a thick limb that grew close to the rock wall. I hopped easily onto the limb, tied off my rope and started to climb toward the nest. As I glanced down, my eyes happened to fall upon patches of sun-bleached bones strewn across the rock wall. At that moment, it occurred to me that the white objects I wasn’t able to discern from the darkened tower were actually human bones! I shuddered at the thought, but continued my climb.

  “My ascent was easy enough because of the many limbs so closely grouped together, only, my heart was beating so loud in my own ears that I thought the noise would be enough to give me away. I finally reached the opening of the nest. I knew this because I could smell a foul stench emanating directly above. I pulled myself up slowly and cautiously, just far enough where I could get a momentary peek into the entrance. I suddenly felt unnerved. It may sound foolish, but because of my obsession and my hasty desire to kill the beast, I really didn’t have a well thought out plan as to how I would actually accomplish the task once I got there. Would I just shoot into the darkness of the nest hoping that one of my six bullets would find their mark? And if they didn’t, what then?

  “As it happened, I had no need to worry, because the horror of what transpired next quickly decided things for me.