The Bleeding Chainsaw

Rusted blade sticking out of a crimson body, fueled by gas it started at a flick of a switch. Chain shimmering like silver pulled tightly around the blade; it starts with a scream like a metal band singer, and thick black smoke rises from the vents on the body. Before it even cuts anything though it drools from the chains blood, dripping down in a continuous flow as long as the motor revs menacingly.

Cutting wood, stone, metal, and flesh all to the rhythm of its own insane chorus of blood splatter, metal screeching, and roaring motor. Playing a dirge to whoever meets the wrong end of the eternally ravenous mechanism. Even as it was sealed in an evidence bag it was still dripping with blood, and the heat of the machine could be felt through the thick plastic. Placing it a trunk of a police vehicle the officer in charge of evidence gathering looked back at the gruesome scene.

In the school parking lot after hours on a friday night, five students three male, two female were found only a few hours ago. Apparently they had used the school to break into an abandoned house that the town had sealed off decades ago. Investigating an urban legend most likely the five youths entered the premises, one of them probably was pulling a prank and brought the chainsaw with them to scare them, but he lost control and killed all his friends and himself.

When they came on the scene his severed hand still gripped tightly around the chainsaw, which was soaked in blood, and was still tearing into one of the dismembered corpses. Blood, intestines, and gored remains littered the parking lot, they had to use long poles to remove parts from the trees. Officer Meinhart was disgusted, kids should've known better, and now their parents, peers, and the community will have to mourn their stupidity.

"Should've tore down that house long ago." Meinhart stated to his colleagues after he slammed his trunk closed.

"Amen to that." responded an officer. "But what can you do the mayor uses it as a tourist trap."

"Still doesn't mean we should have a school next to it or allow our kids to go into that place, this isn't the first time something like this happened." argued Meinhart.

True it wasn't the first time it happened, back in nineteen seventy six was the first incident that made the house a legend in the world of the paranormal. Starting with Earl Greggory and his wife and two kids, they moved to town three years prior. Earl was a lumber tycoon who made his fortune in the lumber trade up north, he came down south to retire having made his fortune so he could raise his two young daughters with his wife Felicia. Wanting to live in a small town he set up roots in the town of Kettelspring, but he still had expensive tastes, and didn't much care for the houses on the market.

So he bought the biggest plot of land available which was next to the public high school, having paid the town a fortune for the right to construct his home there, despite public outcry. Having heavy construction going on during school hours was distracting to the kids and was against town ordinance of having a private residence so close to a school zone. Despite this the then mayor gave Mr. Greggory special permission, and no one argued with him directly, because he was a tall, muscular man having been cutting trees down since he was a young boy. Arms as thick as trees, towering over all the men in town, and a perpetual grimace on his stoney face.

Months since moving to town Greggory had hired every carpenter, plumber, and electrician in town to work on his house. It was designed to by at least five floors high, with multiple basement floors, a bathroom on every floor, an expansive dining room, and a private movie theatre on the top floor. Costing a fortune the construction was moving smoothly, having passed all expectations it seemed the house would be finished in less than a year. That was however till they started digging further into the ground and found the body.

Mummified in clay it was a wrinkly yellow corpse, eyes still in the sockets, nose shrunken in, and teeth showing in a lipless mouth. Stained yellow from head to toe she was dubbed in the newspaper as a yellow woman after she an autopsy showed the body was female. Further analysis showed she was a Inuit woman who was most likely laid to rest in the ground, despite finding the body the construction continued. Since then however accidents occured, electrocutions, falling through floors, and being impaled by wood beams the site was considered cursed and more than half the workers abandoned the project.

Only those who desperately needed the money stayed, and every few days a new death would occur, it got so bad that the sheriff shut down construction for the public good.

"If you want to finish this house do it yourself." the sheriff was quoted as saying.

Stubbornly Earl Greggory continued building the house by himself, forcing his family to live in the half finished house out of pride and arrogance. When Mrs. Greggory went shopping people would see her wearing sunglasses even on a cloudy day, and wearing long sleeves sweaters even on a hot day. Everything knew he was beating her for talking back, because people could hear their arguments and the following sounds of him beating her for miles. One day it got too much for the people of the town so they roused the sheriff to go to the house and arrest Greggory for assault and for forcing his family to live in unsafe home.

Despite looking alright on the outside, the inside was a maze of stairs, floors with big holes in them, and no working electricity so anyone could fall through all the way to bottom floor which was nothing but clay, which had sucked in many carpenters during the houses construction. Parked outside with his deputies the sheriff and his men heard the roaring of a chainsaw and the soul freezing sound of screams for help. Running inside guns draw the sheriff and deputies broke through the locked door and saw in the light of their flashlights the severed upper torso of Mrs. Greggory.

Hearing the roar of the chainsaw as if it were the devil's own howls the sheriff stood stone footed in fear as his deputies ran away scared to death of what they heard. Hardening his nerves the sheriff ran up the stairs to the top floor where he saw in shock Mr. Greggory caked in blood wielding a chainsaw which he was using to mince his daughters into a bloody pile. Crazed and foaming at the mouth Earl charged at the sheriff who barely had the resolve to fire at the charing lumberjack who needed six bullets to be stopped. Gushing from his chest the bullet holes streamed blood, trying to stop the bleeding with his free hand Earl held the roaring chainsaw with the other, but he was too laxed and it dragged along the floor, pulling Earl with it down the hole in the floor.

Screaming as if he was being hurled down to hell Earl Greggory still clutching the chainsaw fell down every floor of the house before sinking into the clay at the bottom. Falling faster than a stone in water the murderous tycoon vanished along with his chainsaw, even as the police searches in the following months there was no sign of Earl's body or his murder weapon. Buried at the local cemetery his wife and daughters were given a respectable burial, but due to his infamy and since there was no body Earl was given no grave. Condemning the house the sheriff wanting it torn down but the mayor saw how it drew in tourists and refused to allow that to happen, deciding to keep it open to draw in those interested in the infamous story.

Retellings and passing years turned it into an urban legend, that of a mad chainsaw killer who butchered his family and whose body was never found. Two years [assed and another tragedy befell the down, two kids around ten years old went missing. Everybody in town looked for them, and after weeks their remains were found at the Greggory house, but their heads weren't. The autopsy said the wounds were most likely made with a chainsaw, and the bodies were covered in blood that weren't their own.

Months followed and the investigation found no suspects, some people blamed a drifter, others outcasts of their community, while a smaller collection of towns people believed it was Earl Greggory returned from the dead. Again the sheriff wanted the house destroyed but the mayor refused as the latest tragedy brought in even more money to the town. Four years have passed and another horrific incident shook the town of Kettelspring for even though a wall was built around the house, three more bodies of missing kids were found inside.

Lost since the following night the sheriff knew they would be found in the Greggory house, and to his disgust found them without arms or legs. Once again the autopsy was that they were killed with a chainsaw, and they were covered in blood that wasn't their own. Working on a hunch the sheriff dug up the Greggory kids and wife and tested their DNA against the blood on the bodies, to that day the results had been sealed from the public.

Despite the mayor declining to destroy the house the sheriff and a mob of towns people set fire to the estate, but even though the inside became charred the outside was still firm standing. So to placate the mob the mayor built a towering wall around the estate and made it illegal to enter the grounds, and that seemed to work. Kettelspring still got the tourist money and the killings stopped. The legend of Earl Greggory grew becoming a staple of campfire ghost stories, and eventually the mayor retired and so did the sheriff and the town slowly forgot about the gruesome past.

Until that night as the scene of the recent deaths would spread like a plague across the town, maybe it'll spur some action, then again half the town survives on the money from gawkers of the Greggory house and ghost hunters.

"I'm going to drop this off at the station." officer Meinhart said to the other officers.

They said their goodbyes and Meinhart got into his car and drove off, it was still the depth of night and the town most mostly sleeping. Except for parents who are getting the bad news that their kids won't be coming home that night. Kettelspring a spooky tourist spot, for the world outside its a fun exercise in the realm of horror, for the towns people its a wound that never fully heals. Turning onto the long dirt road to the station the officer didn't expect that he'd almost lose control of his car from a sudden loud revving of an engine.

Pulling over to the side of the road Meinhart's hand gripped the steering wheel, he gave a hard grunt with every exhale. Shaking in his seat he listened to the roar of a gas powered engine, shredding of metal sent a splitting pain into his eardrums. Carefully he got out of his carseat and followed showed his gun drawn and his eyes darting in the darkness, only the high beams of his car lit up the blackness of that night. No moon, no stars, just black clouds and a chill in the air.

Roaring above even Meinhart's heartbeat the wicked sound the officer realized came from his trunk. Was it a prank? Did he turn the chainsaw off? Whatever the reason he needed to investigate. Walking to the trunk he heard the roar slow to a slow, purring, rumble, holstering his gun, he pulled out a flashlight and held the light on the trunk, as his other hand held the keys to open the trunk.

As soon as he turned the key the trunk door swung open and from within came roaring a flash of shining metal and a splatter of blood that covered his face. Ripping into the arm that held the flashlight officer Meinhart felt as though hundreds of rat teeth were gnawing at his flesh, the pain burst into his system when he heard his arm fall to the ground in a thud. Laying on the dirt road the officer held the bloodied end where his arm used to be and screamed in agony and terror. Flying over his head was the chainsaw, spraying blood as it soared over head landing a few feet away.

Hitting the ground in a loud bang it snarled like a beast before charing off into the night, heading into the desert where its roaring engine echoed into the night.