As I herded the party guests and ghouls outside to play Capture the Flag and Zombie Soccer Sunday afternoon, their shouts echoed back to me through the mist. "Did you see the guts?" "Cool!"
We'd done a little outdoor decorating, but the woods in the fall are pretty spooktacular without my help, so we'd stuck to pumpkins and gourds. Guts? I didn't remember putting any fake guts anywhere....unless Mr. B found that dismembered arm and set it outside...
Once I got the troops properly settled into a game of Capture the Flag (you know, with a strategy and people guarding their flags and what-not), I hiked back up the hill to the house. There, in the middle of my yard, right beside my beloved clothesline poles, I found this:
(Don't look if you're squeamish.)
(I mean it--this is pretty nasty.)
(Last warning....)
What the what?
There in the middle of our yard, right by our house, are entrails. Just the stomach and intestines, everything else stripped bare. No fur. No feathers. No bones. No blood. No other trace of anything. Only these innards.
Ugh!
But disgusting isn't scary, right? At least it's not too scary until you begin thinking about it. Like in those horror movies when the people return to base camp and find the guy supposed to be guarding everything--only he's been filleted or skinned or deboned. And then they're all "Holy crap! Something's out there! Something big!"
Using this same deduction I presume some creature, big enough to drag and devour an animal big enough to have a stomach the size of a 6 inch sub sandwich and at least 2 yards of intestines (come on, I wasn't going to touch it, this is purely an eyeball estimation of length) is lurking around out there. The disemboweled critter had to be pretty big. What killed it had to be bigger. Did it drop it from the sky or did it drag it up here--or did the attack and subsequent carnivorous feasting take place right outside my house?
Things looked pretty...erhm...fresh, if you get my drift.
And there's no trace of anything else.
What would do that?
I can tell you this much: I'm not going outside alone at night for a long time. That's just freaky, people. I'm assuming it's an animal with carnivorous tendencies, but we're not ruling out zombies or aliens yet...
And speaking of animals, don't forget that October's FABULOUS is a copy of Lemur Troops and Critter Groups by Rena Jones. These aren't scary animals, but your favorite kiddos will be entertained and educated about animal groups. Rena's got a charming knack of illustrating her work just so, and who doesn't like a parade of animals? Plus, lemurs are adorable. I cannot see them taking out a huge animal and devouring every bit of them but the guts...because they're herbivores who eat mostly fruit! (I'll be here all week sharing Lemur Fun Facts, tip your waitresses.)
How can you enter to win a copy of Lemur Troops and Critter Groups by the talented Rena Jones? Easy! Every comment in the comment box through Saturday is an entry to win.
Spill it, reader. What critter is cuter than a lemur?
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