16.7.2006
The Laughing Boys
The Laughing Boys http://www.netsaga.is/media/files/02%20Track%2002.mp3
Of the many case files I have piled up in my study the story of the notorious
"laughing boys"
stands out.
The name was a flattering way to describe Matthew and Sebastian, two twelve-year-olds who had terrorised their local community, subjecting them to so-called practical jokes - but not the kind that made you laugh.
One elderly couple, retired accountants, who suffered more than most were John and Katie Wilson.
After two broken hips, five bruised ribs and two slipped discs between them, and that just the major injuries, they had finally had enough.
They called me, their old friend Sophie Ravenhill.
I investigate problems connected with the spiritual world.
So I was surprised at first when I received their call as I thought the police were the best people to deal with the problem.
But when they described the sick jokes and cruel pranks Matthew and Sebastian had played I couldn't but accept their plea for help.
Before I tell you how this case was solved, let me take you back to the time it began.
Matthew and Sebastian moved to the village of Bracey when they were nine.
Their fathers worked for the same DIY company that would move them every two or three years to start up and manage new outlets.
When they arrived in Bracey eighty per cent of the population were over seventy years old.
The village must have looked quite dull to two lively nine-year-olds.
At first Matthew and Sebastian's jokes were quite funny.
They put To Let signs outside people's houses, painted empty milk bottles white and glued money to the pavement.
But then, at a certain point, their jokes became more sinister and dangerous.
People started being hurt.
The first time John and Katie came across Matthew and Sebastian was in the local cemetery.
Their Sunday afternoon visit was a regular event.
They would sit in their usual place under a large tree, chatting and relaxing in quiet companionship.
But on one particular Sunday something happened that would change their lives for the worse.
As they sat talking they heard a rustling sound above their heads.
It got louder as if a bird was trapped by something between the branches.
They couldn't see it but they could hear it struggling violently.
Concerned, they called the fire brigade.
At first the fireman couldn't find anything but finally down he climbed holding the end of a fishing line which had been tied to one of the branches.
With John and Katie in tow, he followed the line thirty metres to where it finished up, behind a large headstone and attached to a stick that must have been used to pull on it.
Scattered about the grave were empty drinks cans and sweet packets.
Then they all heard laughing in the background.
On that occasion all the Wilsons suffered was embarrassment as they apologised to the friendly fireman.
But worse was to come.
On that occasion all the Wilsons suffered was embarrassment as they apologised to the friendly fireman.
But worse was to come.
The Wilsons' neighbour, Barry, was walking his dog alongside the church when he stepped on a paving stone that suddenly collapsed, breaking his leg.
When the authorities investigated the accident they found that all the sand and gravel from underneath the paving stone had been removed and replaced with sponges, just enough to hold the paving stone up so it looked solid and level.
That cruel prank turned the tide.
A group of villagers got together with John and Katie to demand that the police do something about the boys.
Matthew and Sebastian were brought into the police station with their not so happy parents and questioned for over three hours.
But they denied having anything to do with the incidents.
Hearing the boys laughing in the background whenever something occurred was not enough even to caution them, the police explained.
So nothing could be done and the boys were free to go.
After that episode the villagers who had complained to the police found they were singled out for special treatment.
The first people to feel the boys' anger were retired teachers Guy and June Norman.
As they sat talking in their garden one evening, a large wasp's nest was thrown over the wall.
The couple were so stunned it took them a few seconds to realise what was happening.
They were stung mercilessly and if hadn't been for their neighbours hearing their tormented cries, they might have died.
Another member of the group to fall victim to the boys was Sheila, a retired nurse, who woke up one morning to find several rats running around her bedroom.
In shock and horror she jumped out of her bedroom window breaking her leg, arm and hip.
The
"joke"
that nearly killed John and Katie happened on a Saturday afternoon shortly afterwards.
They had just returned from their local supermarket, weighed down with shopping and longing to get indoors.
John pushed the gate to their basement flat but it seemed to be jammed.
No matter how hard he pushed it just wouldn't budge so Katie offered to help.
As they pushed together the gate suddenly snapped.
John and Katie were thrown forward and then down into their own basement.
Luckily they escaped head injuries but they did break just about everything else.
The gate had been sawn almost round the hinges and nailed to the post on the side it should have opened.
It was when John and Katie were laid up in hospital that they called me.
I arrived in Bracey as they were convalescing and they offered to put me up in their home while I dealt with their case.
After moving in, the first thing I had to do was locate Matthew and Sebastian's hideout.
I was too conspicuous to do the job myself so I enlisted the help of Max, my Siamese cat.
He has many unusual qualities:
following people is one of them.
Having established the boys' hideout I did some research on the surrounding area - something I always do on strange cases.
I suspected that what I uncovered had great bearing on the troubles in the village.
But I had to confront the boys face to face to be sure.
Before going in any deeper, I persuaded the Wilsons to spend the weekend away with friends because I knew things were about to get decidedly unpleasant.
After seeing them safely off, my first task was to find a way of getting Matthew and Sebastian to drop by.
I decided to use Max again.
As well as being a clever cat, Max can also be mischievous and unpredictable.
One of his unfortunate habits is hiding behind a gate then suddenly leaping out and grabbing whatever happens to be passing by, be it a pram wheel, walking stick or dog.
I've often had to chase after people to apologise for my cat's bad behaviour.
But this time I saw a way of using Max's tricks to my advantage.
I put him out on the front lawn where he started to attract the attention of a few villagers but not Matthew and Sebastian.
I waited all day for them to turn up but they never did.
That night I went to bed wondering if I'd miscalculated the boys' cunning.
I was proved right the next morning when, as usual, I opened a tin of cat food for Max.
When I came back half an hour later the food was untouched.
I called several times then searched the nearby gardens but to no avail.
So I went back inside the Wilsons' house.
Almost immediately the front door bell rang.
When I opened the door it was none other than Matthew and Sebastian.
The two boys were standing there like two little angels holding a large shoe box in their hands.
They said they had found Max dead in the cemetery.
Without betraying any emotions, I told them to come in and put the box down on the coffee table.
I took the lid off and there was Max, bludgeoned to death.
I thanked the boys for returning Max's body and offered them tea and cakes.
Before leaving the room I moved the box to the mantelpiece.
When I came back with the tray I asked the boys how they had found Max's body.
As they told me their story they couldn't stop themselves from smirking.
That's when I knew my hunch about them was right.
Things were about to get deadly serious so I made my excuses and left the room.
I left the door ajar and stood there, out of sight but able to see the boys.
They had their hands over their mouths trying hard not to laugh.
Then suddenly the shoe box started shaking.
Matthew and Sebastian stopped laughing and sat frozen to the spot staring at the box.
The lid flew off and Max jumped out, as right as rain without a mark on him.
He looked down at the boys and started purring.
The purring was so loud it vibrated through the whole room.
Matthew and Sebastian tried to run towards the door but everything in the room was shaking, even the floor was moving.
The boys fell to the ground.
As they lay on the floor Max jumped off the mantelpiece and walked towards them.
The boys tried to scream but no sound came out.
Then Max struck them with his claws with devastating power.
Arms, legs and heads flew off with a single swipe.
The living room looked like a slaughter house - but without any blood.
Max signalled that he had finished. I went back into the room and picked up all the body pieces, put them in a sack and drove out to the place where the boys always went.
As soon as I put the sack on the grass, the ground started shaking and great cracks appeared in the earth.
Suddenly the boys started screaming,
"Let us out! Let us out of here!" -
they were alive.
I opened the sack and they jumped out and ran off into the fields still screaming.
I followed them home in order to explain to their bewildered parents why they were in such a state.
It took some convincing but I think I managed to get through to them in the end.
As well as being a clever cat, Max can also be mischievous and unpredictable.
One of his unfortunate habits is hiding behind a gate then suddenly leaping out and grabbing whatever happens to be passing by, be it a pram wheel, walking stick or dog.
I've often had to chase after people to apologise for my cat's bad behaviour.
But this time I saw a way of using Max's tricks to my advantage.
I put him out on the front lawn where he started to attract the attention of a few villagers but not Matthew and Sebastian.
I waited all day for them to turn up but they never did.
That night I went to bed wondering if I'd miscalculated the boys' cunning.
I was proved right the next morning when, as usual, I opened a tin of cat food for Max.
When I came back half an hour later the food was untouched.
I called several times then searched the nearby gardens but to no avail.
So I went back inside the Wilsons' house.
Almost immediately the front door bell rang.
When I opened the door it was none other than Matthew and Sebastian.
The two boys were standing there like two little angels holding a large shoe box in their hands.
They said they had found Max dead in the cemetery.
Without betraying any emotions, I told them to come in and put the box down on the coffee table.
I took the lid off and there was Max, bludgeoned to death.
I thanked the boys for returning Max's body and offered them tea and cakes.
Before leaving the room I moved the box to the mantelpiece.
When I came back with the tray I asked the boys how they had found Max's body.
As they told me their story they couldn't stop themselves from smirking.
That's when I knew my hunch about them was right.
Things were about to get deadly serious so I made my excuses and left the room.
I left the door ajar and stood there, out of sight but able to see the boys.
They had their hands over their mouths trying hard not to laugh.
Then suddenly the shoe box started shaking.
Matthew and Sebastian stopped laughing and sat frozen to the spot staring at the box.
The lid flew off and Max jumped out, as right as rain without a mark on him.
He looked down at the boys and started purring.
The purring was so loud it vibrated through the whole room.
Matthew and Sebastian tried to run towards the door but everything in the room was shaking, even the floor was moving.
The boys fell to the ground.
As they lay on the floor Max jumped off the mantelpiece and walked towards them.
The boys tried to scream but no sound came out.
Then Max struck them with his claws with devastating power.
Arms, legs and heads flew off with a single swipe.
The living room looked like a slaughter house - but without any blood.
Max signalled that he had finished.
I went back into the room and picked up all the body pieces, put them in a sack and drove out to the place where the boys always went.
As soon as I put the sack on the grass, the ground started shaking and great cracks appeared in the earth.
Suddenly the boys started screaming,
"Let us out! Let us out of here!" -
they were alive.
I opened the sack and they jumped out and ran off into the fields still screaming.
I followed them home in order to explain to their bewildered parents why they were in such a state.
It took some convincing but I think I managed to get through to them in the end.
When I got back to the Wilsons' home I sat down, spent and exhausted.
Just as I was about to nod off the front door opened.
It was John and Katie who said they couldn't stay away and they had to know everything immediately.
How could two supposedly normal boys turn out to be so evil?
I began by saying that the boys' behaviour was connected to the history of their village.
I explained that four or five hundred years ago the village and the area immediately around it was common land on which peasants had their houses, grazed their animals and tilled the earth.
But the owners of the neighbouring estates, with influence in high places, demanded and were granted the right to enclose all the common land and turn it into private property.
They used force to expel the peasants.
Sometimes sixty or seventy families would have to flee overnight and join the roaming, desperate homeless of the country.
Not only did they have to abandon their houses and livestock, they also had to leave behind their family graves where generations had been buried.
The landowners pulled up all the crosses and headstones and planted trees in their place.
If you drive through the countryside today and see a group of trees in the middle of a field, more often than not it is the site of an ancient peasant graveyard.
"The village of Bracey has a place like that not a hundred metres from your house", I said.
"Oh yes", said John and Katie, "we've passed by that field many times but we've never taken much notice of it".
I explained that Matthew and Sebastian had been looking for a special place of their own to play and had come across the trees in the middle of the field.
The place looked harmless enough but what they didn't known was that underneath the trees were the graves of nearly a hundred people.
Graves that had been neglected century after century, their coffins broken and the bones scattered amongst the roots.
The spirits were angry.
When Matthew and Sebastian came along, the spirits found a way of venting that anger through the boys natural energy and love of practical jokes.
Matthew and Sebastian genuinely had no recollection of all the dreadful things they had done.
They had been possessed.
"But why did the spirits kill Max?" asked Katie.
"Once Max had found the boys hideout, the spirits realised it wouldn't be long before I knew too.
It was a warning to me.
But they underestimated my cat's special powers", I replied.
"But what about the boys being torn to pieces?" John wanted to know.
I reassured my perplexed friends that the boys were never conscious of any harm done to them.
In order to get rid of the evil spirits they had to be reminded of who they were and where they came from.
"Could the spirits return?" was Katie's next frightened question.
"Yes", I replied.
"How can we prevent that from happening?" John asked.
I told them the only way of ensuring that was to dig up all the bones and bury them in consecrated ground.
"You're going to need the help of the whole village to do that", I concluded.
As Max and I left, John and Katie were already organising a committee to relocate the graves.
I wished them good luck.