-Howard George Bean-

November 1st, 1984 - the body of 27 year old Howard George Bean is found impaled on a stake in the woods off of Lead Mine Road in Killville, MA.

Most of his organs had been removed.

He was #26 in a grisly Halloween tradition that began in 1973 and continues to this day. Some say that the murders go back even farther than that.

The local newspaper christened the killer "The Disemboweler" on account of his penchant for disemboweling his victims. Autopsies showed that the organs are usually removed while the victim is still alive. Folks around here more commonly refer to him as "The Gutter" .

The bodies are usually stuck up on a big pole, decorated with cow and horse bones, barbed wire and the like. He seems to fancy himself as some kind of folk artist. Reached down at the local watering hole, Dewey's Bar & Grill, esteemed entomologist Dr. Frank P. Sandisfield surmised that, "The individual is probably someone who was thrown out of art college, picked on in high school and is quite unlucky with the ladies. Then again he may just be totally off his nut for no reason at all....but Hell, what do I know, I'm a goddamn bug man. Now beat it and let me get back to my drink."

The disemboweled organs are never recovered, one theory is that they get dragged off by coyotes, but the prevailing thought up on Lead Mine mountain is that the gutter has a sweet tooth for fresh entrails.

Until and if ever he is apprehended we won't know if the murders are the work of one sick individual or perhaps an entire family of psychopaths spanning generations keeping up a family tradition that dates back to who knows when. At any regard it's probably best to memorize this little poem that they teach to all the local trick or treaters, lest you end up like poor Howard George Bean