The Zelibub

The Zelibub is an old hag, resembling a troll with pointed ears, yellow eyes, black skin, long wavy hair, a white gown and two long arms that extend out of her back and dangle in front of her. These arms are in addition to her two regular arms that hang at her sides, limp. The Zelibub has rotten, blackened teeth and long fingernails. The Zelibub's favorite thing to do is to strangle people that aren't asleep in their beds. If you are being watched by Zelibub, fall asleep in your bed before 66 minutes are up or she'll strangle you to death with the arms that come out of her back. The Zelibub's laugh can only be heard by the person she intends to kill. The Zelibub is afraid of music. Any form of music or song scares her away. The Zelibub will only appear at night, presumably between six at night and six in the morning.

On a taxi’s way through the countryside, a scruffy driver converses with a well-dressed middle-aged man seated to the back left of the car.

“So where you headed to, doctor?” Says the driver.

“Aye?” Replies the man in the back.

“When you was getting in. I saw you was a doctor. On the label of your briefcase. You from London then?”

“God, no. Not originally at least. Ireland.”

“Why’d you come to visit old Scotland? The sites?”

“Far from it. I’m on personal call.”

“Personal call, aye? Guess the doctors out here got their work cut out for em’?”

“I’m not so sure. This patient is an old acquaintance of mine. Miss O’Donald. You know of her?”

“Can’t say I do, sir. Then again, I’m only the lift in and out these parts. Don’t know much about the folks here. I stop in the pub every now and again, but other than that I ain’t the social kind.”

“I see.”

“So whats got you out here, then? The Misses got a fever?”

“No, it’s her son. Hasn’t been eating or sleeping for sometime. The Misses had my number and phoned me.”

“That boy not right in the head, says I!”

“You think so?”

“Certainly not. These small towns folk, turn an empty pond into an overcrowded ocean. I bed the lad’s cooped up inside. Kept on a leash. Probably not off right in the head.”

“Perhaps. I did find it strange how the Misses called me first. Her son’s habits seem to be more up the alley of a psychologically startled psychosis. Not sure what I can do for her.”

“Ah, I’m sure you’ll do your right-best, doc! Just a mile or so more off this turn.”

“Hidden, isn’t it?”

“What’s that, sir?”

“I said it’s hidden, isn’t it? Greene Elk, I mean.”

“Oh, but a lovely town she is, sir!”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it.”

“You staying at the local inn?”

“Miss Penward’s Bed & Breakfast, yes. I’ve made arrangements.”

“Jolly, sir. You’re right off!”

“Haha!… Well, I do like to plan ahead.”

“You a married man sir? Plenty of pretty skirts in the country, if I do say so me-self.”

“Heavens no…”

“Baldroy, sir! William Baldroy. And you, sir? What should I call you?”

“Fredrick P. Cunningham. M.D. Please. Or call me Doctor Cunningham. Or… you know. Doc.”

“Not Fred?”

“Aye?”

“I said, not Fred?”

“Not too good at hearing, this one.” Cunningham thought to himself.

“No, I’m not too fond of that.” Cunningham replied.

“Very well, sir!

“You look to be about thirty or so?

“Right on the mark, sir! Turned thirty-two last month. You’ve got an eye, you have!”

“Yes, well. Gotta keep sharp.”

“Ain’t it the truth. You do much reading doc?”

“Indeed, I do. In fact… right now I’m…”

“Science Fiction, then!?”

“How… how did you know?”

“Ah, I’m just foolin’. I saw you was eyeing your paperback a mile ago. Asimov. A great writer, that one!”

“Yes, his work is, indeed, stimulating.”

“Excuse me, sir, if you don’t mind me asking…”

“Proceed.”

“Well, how much you make on the job? Out and about like this, I mean?”

“Thinking about getting into the trade yourself?”

“Oh, no sir! Writing a work of fiction me-self! One of the characters is a doctor, see. House calls and what not. So I was curious about the rate one charges.”

“Well, this particular case is free, on behalf of Miss Charles and her son.”

“I see…”

“Perhaps you could use that?”

“Perhaps I could, sir. Perhaps I could.”

In time I would come to find comfort in places as far from the village of Greene Elk as I could locate. Not the cheerfulness of the driver, to the cloudiness of the day, nor the pleasantly balanced breeze could have calmed me for the days to come. When I was younger I never believed in monsters. becoming an adult I found the only evil creatures that had ever plagued mankind were microscopic, unseen to the human eye. I was wrong, obviously.

“How come you didn’t drive yourself up here, sir? Don’t fancy yourself a right-traveler?”

“Oh, no. I just prefer not to drive.”

“Prefer or can’t?”

“Can’t.”

“You got a license?”

“Afraid not.”

“A doctor without a license to steer? Jolly-weird.”

“Cars and me just don’t get along. I can drive, just as-for a license, I never really got around to it.”

“Understandable. I can relate sir. That’s me and the ocean right there! Won’t step a toe in!”

Coming upon the town, I sat up in a hardy posture before our car passed the high grass of the road by a lake, coming out to this flat plot of buildings near the edge of a cliff. Greene Elk had a strange location. Just a few feet from where a row of buildings stood, there was the sea and a straight drop down to the rocky beaches below. There was only one road into Greene Elk and we had taken it, his and forests galore. I bid farewell to Baldroy, for now, and found my way into the local in to take the room I’s called ahead for. As I walked in an elderly woman with copper-dyed hair stood at the counter, perky and eager. Her voice had that Irish spin.

“Well, hello there, sir!”

“Good day, madam.”

“You’re doctor Cunningham, ain’t cha?”

“That’s correct.”

“Well, I got your room all nice and ready for ya’! Misses O’Donald expecting you! If you’d like I can give her a call? Tell her you’ll be round in a while?”

“Yes, that would be astounding if you would. This way to my room? I held my coat over my arm and my briefcase at my side while pointing down the hall.”

“Yes, sir! She proved up proud and giddy.”

“Just down there, last one on the right!”

“Thank you madam.”

“Agnus.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s Agnus.”

“Ah.” I smiled a moment. “Yes. Of course it is.”

I stepped away, located my room and set my things down. Not too long after that I had a stroll over to Misses O’Donald’s home. When I stepped in she was weeping. Her son was in her bedroom, white as a sheet and bunched up. I inspected the boy. I could not find anything medically wrong with him. This was… fear. Something had frightened him. I informed Misses O’Donald that this was, indeed, a job for a psychologist of some sort. And within a few hours I took my leave of their home, my head hung in disappointment that I could be of no help.

As Cunningham strolled out of the village and back into the town, a strange old drunken man in dirty cloths stumbled up to him. Grasping Cunningham’s coat sleeve, the old man yells in Cunningham’s face, alcohol emanating off of him. All the while Cunningham struggles to get free and run away.

“The Zelibub, sir! The Zelibub is here!”

“What in god’s name?”

“The boy, sir! She wants the boy! The Zelibub!”

“Get off me.”

“The b***h-hag, sir! She wants the boy! She comes in at night and chokes you dead! The Zelibub! The Zelibub!”

He did eventually let go of me. I would eventually investigate this things called ‘the Zelibub’. But it wasn’t due to the old drunkards warning that I had decided to research. I heard folks around town mention the name. I stood an extra day in Greene Elk, just to contact a local psychiatrist and see that he got to Misses O’Donald’s okay. That’s when I discovered an old Greene Elk legend. The legend about the Zelibub. A demonic hag-like witch. She had appeared at the end of November. She appeared to Miss O’Donald’s son. She wanted him to be her next victim. I apologize If I mix between calling Miss O’Donald ‘Misses O’Donald’. She was a widow, but always insisted on being called misses.

Her and her husband happened to share the same last name, which was just convenient for her reasoning I suppose. But, back to the point… Her son’s life was in danger. I had originally thought the whole town was nuts. No one would go near the O’Donald’s house and the boy wouldn’t sleep in his own bed. That’s how the Zelibub could have gotten to him. I tell you, I would have never believed it if I hadn’t seen the thing for myself. Agnus, the innkeeper. She was killed that very night. I heard a struggle in the inn-maid’s quarters and rushed back. I thought it might have been a break in. I broke down the door to her bedroom as Agnus was screaming from the other side. I finally kicked it in.

I held my revolver that I had brought with me, in my suitcase. I saw the thing standing there, on her chest. This old woman with black arms coming out of her back. I shot her six times and she just laughed off the bullets. I fell backward and as I jumped up to see what she was going to do next… she vanished. That was when I truly believed. It was only after pleading with the towns people that they told me how to kill her. The Zelibub could be killed with silver. I know. How stereotypical. The townsfolk were too afraid to do anything. The Zelibub had haunted Greene Elk for years. Yet,  no one spoke of it and no one did anything to help those it targeted for fear of being targeted themselves.

I had failed Miss O’Donald once. It was not going to happen again. I convinced her son to stay in bed one night and to stay awake. I had smelted a bullet down from some silver the good people of Greene Elk were nice enough to give me. I was the first and only man who ever dared to face this being, and I didn’t want my act to be the last attempt at fighting back these creatures of the night. So, we recommend the locking mechanism from the door so the Zelibub couldn’t keep me out. And the instant the boy let out a cry I kicked down the door and shot the Zelibub six times. She was cocky. She stood to take all five shots, probably assuming I’d make the same mistake twice.

It took the hag a minute before she realized she’d been shot full of silver. I unloaded every round and wasn’t taking any chances. She fell over on the side of the bed and Misses O’Donald’s son ran at her side. That night Baldroy, Agnus’ husband, Edgar, and a few of the town’s men aided me in carrying the Zelibub to the outskirts of the town and burning it’s body. We threw the ashes into the sea, and after sticking around to make sure the Zelibub’s presence had been lifted, I made my way to London. The people of Greene Elk said I was always welcome in their town. I have faced many horrors since then. Nuckelavee, a human horse-like entity made of muscles and horrid mutations I fought while in Germany.

I killed it by luring it into a ring of salt and fire, then putting a seal on the land and trapping it in dirt. On holiday in New England, in America, I became the target of a Native American wraith called the ‘Yogwei’ that was terrorizing a small village. With the help of a Native American descendent of an old chief, we banished the creature from this world with an old Cherokee necklace by absorbing the creature in into the tooth of a bear and then crushing it beneath a rock. Even the Baba Yagba, a mythical demon back in London. I battled this entity with holy water and a cross which I had sharpened the end of. I drove it into it’s heart and poured holy water down it’s throat.

During the end of that fight I had taken a heart attack and was hospitalized for a time. I’ve since stopped hunting creatures. Facing down these monstrosities has taken up most of my life over the years. Now some fractions regard me as a monster-slayer for my help. I think it’s funny. My encounter with the entity called the Zelibub took place back in 1985. Since that time I have dedicated myself to studying this strange phenomenon. These beings that haunt our world. Since the creation of the internet I’ve found other people to converse with on these matters. I took up the online mantle of ‘Adam’ and started my own site to attempt to gather people in exposing the origins behind paranormal phenomenon and anyone who may have caused these occurrences to increase over the years.