The Witch of Blacksprings

HEX

By Thomas Olde Heuvelt

 The only evil out there is not witches, vampires or other monsters. The worst kind of evil is generated from humans themselves. In the town of Black Spring there exists a witch and a curse. Or rather the ghost of a witch. A ghost that can become flesh and blood. The town curse is that once you decide to become a resident of that town that is it you are stuck there forever. Leaving the town for any period of time can lead to suicidal thoughts. These thoughts are fatal.

Katherine was a lone woman who lived out in the woods when Black Spring was a Dutch town. She had two children and one died. Then the dead child came back to life. Towns people freak out so they make her kills the child that was revived and she gets burned at the stake. For years she haunts the settlement. Eventually it becomes depopulated and another British town rises up in it’s place.  The British soldiers see her ghost and they get the bright idea to sew her lips and eyes shut. Eventually the British settlement fades and Black Spring pops up. Still haunted by the witch.

Leap into the modern day and the town of Black Spring is still dealing with the neighborhood witch. Hex is the in town organization tasked with handling the witch problem. Surveilance cameras are set up all over town. If she appears in the middle of no where local towns people make an effort to hide her so outsiders do no see. Under no circumstances are people to bother or try to interact with the witch. There is an app that is meant to track the appearances of the witch.

Messing with the witch is bad news . She causes death, destruction and all around mayhem. Back in 1961 the military wanted to cut the stitches of her eyes. That did not end well. Several people died. There are people in town who do not follow the rules laid down by Hex. You have Griselda who makes food sacrifices to the ghost. Several of the twon boys get it into their head that they want to mess with the witch.

A couple times they throw stones at her, injure her with sharp weapons and turn a dog onto her. This sets into motion a series of events that will lead to a fiery end. Get ready for chaos. The book is somewhat chilling but suffused with a certain bent of humor that makes what would be very scare to read a down right entertaining read. 

The real monsters are the towns people who tortured and killed the young Katherine. The ghost only comes back after it has been wronged. The ghost was also wronged by British colonists who sewed her mouth shut. But in reality Katherine is more humorous than dangerous. Mostly she shows up unexpectedly and people have to find a way to hide her. She is a comical nuisance.

Jaydon who is Griselda’s son of somewhat rebellious. He and a group of his friend are angry that they are stuck in this town for life thanks to a witch. The anger caused him to torture the ghost of the witch in a frightening way. Tyler tries to stop them. Jaydon still manages to sic Tyler’s dog on the ghost. Tylers dog dies. He gets punished as well. You would think because he tried to save her that  he would be saved. But good and bad pay alike.