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Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 17, 2017 1:13:57 GMT -5
One night, a man was traveling alone through a park in London. It was rather late and he was anxious to get home. After falling behind at work that day, he had to stay an extra three hours to make up lost time and was exhausted. Fortunately, once he got beyond the park it was a matter of three blocks to getting home. "What I need is a cold, stiff drink... but why does it have to be a Thursday night?" He lamented to himself. Just then, he heard a loud scream. "What the? Who is there?" he asked. Then he heard the scream again. "Are you all right? Are you in pain?" He asked. The scream was heard yet again. Then at last he saw the source of the scream. It was an old, decrepit looking woman, and every time she opened her mouth she let out that loud, screeching scream. "What the... it can't be?" He got a little closer, and once in full view, he was horrified. "A Banshee?! But they don't exist! What was it Patrick told me... in Irish myth they were harbingers of death or... something? No, no it's not possible! But then why?" Finally, the banshee raised her hand and pointed... behind this man was a figure on a horse. But something was not quite right... it's head was missing from its neck, and was hanging alongside the rider on the saddle. "A dullahan?! This can't be real!" He screamed. "Harold Byrne!" The dullahan screamed, before beginning to ride towards him. Byrne began running away but it was no use; in a matter of seconds the dullahan drew a strange looking sword, struck Bryne down and rode off into the night; then the banshee disappeared as well. A stunned witness who saw the whole thing was so frightened, he ran straight to the police station. Naturally, no one believed him... but then the call came in about a body being found in a park. Realizing what they had, the sergeant in charge said "get Stein on the case; he can break it open." Next morning, Anthony Stein arrived at a most peculiar crime scene... Literary Mosaic No.9
The Dullahan and The Banshee
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Post by Tug on Mar 17, 2017 23:15:05 GMT -5
Captain Conrad and Lieutenant Johnson already and the crime scene closed and ready for Stein, and when the German-descent detective arrived, his loayl friends in the force could hear him mumbling...
"Another banshee case? I wonder what it could be this time..."
"Stein?' asked Conrad, alerting the detective back to the realm of reality...
"Sorry Fellas, got lost in thought there, the body please?"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 19, 2017 23:09:39 GMT -5
They found the man, Harold Byrne, dead. He had been strucken down with a weapon of some sort, but what.
"Witness said the dullahan rode in on a horse, swung at him with some sort of sword and fled" Conrad explained.
"I can tell you one thing... this dullahan we are dealing with is very odd" Stein explained.
"How so?" Johnson asked.
"Well, according to legend, it's not just that they ride a horse, they also have a wagon that is adorned with funeral objects. But the sword... a dullahan kills simply by saying the victim's name" Stein explained.
"The witness did say the dullahan did call out the victim's name beforehand; so there is that" Conrad informed.
"Yes, but consider this. Dullahans are frightened of gold; even a pin is enough to scare them off. And yet..." Stein indicated the man's gold watch.
"Someone is putting on some sort of show, or this Dullahan isn't very good at it's job"
"But that still doesn't explain the fact that the witness distinctly saw its head was off and on its side; and what about the Banshee?" Conrad said.
"In Irish mythology, Banshees are harbingers of death, and dullahans are grim reapers of sort. So one announces the victim will die and the other goes in for the kill" Stein observed.
"What can you tell so far?" Conrad asked.
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Post by Tug on Mar 19, 2017 23:12:55 GMT -5
"Well one thing is for sure, someone wanted this man dead, and badly... Anything mythological tied to the victim, something in his background maybe?" asked stein
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 19, 2017 23:17:34 GMT -5
"We're still looking into him; but if the cross on his person is an indication, he seems to be Christian" Conrad stated.
"Then why use old Irish mythology to scare a Christian?" Stein thought to himself.
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Post by Eyes on Mar 24, 2017 12:33:18 GMT -5
"Or perhaps this man was nothing more than superstitious, thinking that having a cross would scare off anything that wished to harm him. Of course that obviously didn't help..." Johnson coughed.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 24, 2017 20:21:23 GMT -5
"We cannot be sure of anything at this point; perhaps we should wait until the examiner looks at the body and the official report comes in?" Conrad proposed
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Post by Eyes on Mar 25, 2017 11:47:05 GMT -5
"True, though I would like to meet this 'witness'... sounds suspicious to me..." Stein said. "Who knows, we may already have the killer...."
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 25, 2017 16:46:17 GMT -5
It was an unlikely prospect, but they gave it a go anyway.
Questioning the witness, he repeated what he said to the other officer
"First the Banshee screamed... then the dullahan rode in and struck him down and rode off. The banshee disappeared soon after" the witness explained.
"I see... what other insight can you offer us?" Stein asked
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Post by Eyes on Apr 2, 2017 23:40:12 GMT -5
"Not much I'm afraid," said the man. "I ran after that. Couldn't make out many other details."
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 2, 2017 23:44:22 GMT -5
"it is unusual when you think about it though- you would think that a horse and rider would be rather easy to spot in the middle of London" Stein asked the man. "But it seems he just vanished..." Stein observed
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Post by Eyes on Apr 2, 2017 23:50:44 GMT -5
"Perhaps he hid somewhere?"
"Yes... but where?" Stein stood up. "If that's all you can tell us, we'll be going then. Thank you very much."
"I'm going home to think this case over," he told Conrad and Johnson. However, no inspiration came to him, and he went to bed perplexed.
Next morning as he ate breakfast, he glanced at the newspaper.
"GEORGE MICHAEL DEAD; SECOND ATTACK OF THE DULLAHAN AND THE BANSHEE" it said.
"That's the name of the witness!" said Stein wide-eyed, and he read on...
At the crime scene...
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 2, 2017 23:58:57 GMT -5
He found Mr. Michael about 9 blocks from the park where the first murder had happened; it was the same injuries and everything.
The only witness was a 53 year old man who lived across the street; and even he did not offer much.
"I was awakened by a piercing scream; I looked out the window and next thing I knew that man was being scared to death by that screeching woman and then a horseman rode in and struck him down" he explained.
"I see. Well, thanks for your help" Stein said as he turned his attention back to the crime scene.
"So what now?" Conrad asked.
"It makes sense though... legend says that those who witness the death of someone at the hands of a dullahan often are the next victims of the dullahan" Stein observed.
"Could there be a more practical connection between the murders?" Johnson asked.
"Doubt it; Byrne was a 59 year old accountant and Michael was a 30 year old factory worker; they wouldn't have floated the same social circles" Stein explained.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 17, 2017 11:35:03 GMT -5
"Darn it; then I've got nothing" Stein said with a sigh.
"I wish we could be of better help sir; but it's kind of hard to get experience concerning Dullahans and Banshees" Conrad explained
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Post by Eyes on Apr 17, 2017 12:04:36 GMT -5
Stein decided to take a walk to clear his mind. It was a chilly day, so he wore his coat. And all the while he pondered upon the problem he had been presented.
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 17, 2017 12:23:30 GMT -5
He knew that both victims were British nationals, but that was the only connection, and a weak one at that. As he walked down a street he passed by a theatre, and saw that an opera was going to bed performed that night.
"Wait a minute... I wonder..." Stein thought to himself. Going to the backstage entrance, he said it was "official police business" and requested to speak to one of the singers.
......
"Am I in trouble?" One of the female leads asked.
"No, of course not. I'm just investigating a case and I have a theory that requires special knowledge only people in your line of work could provide" Stein explained.
"Oh, ok" she said, sighing with relief. Stein then went on to ask if it was possible for a person with operatic talents to be able to do a loud, piercing scream, like a banshee.
"Oh yes; some productions require screams like that as a matter of fact. They are quite hard to get to that desired pitch though; it takes a really talented soprano to pull one off" she explained.
"Have you ever performed a scream like that?" Stein asked
"I wish; I'm a contralto, my range is too low for that" she explained.
"I see, well thank you very much for your time" Stein said as he prepared to leave.
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Post by Tug on Apr 23, 2017 22:20:16 GMT -5
"Well that lead went no where for the time being... If there is something to look into though, it has to be how could someone hid a horse in London?" asked Stein to himself...
As Detective Stein walked down the street, an idea hit him...
"There's only one place in London you could hide a horse... Kempton Park racecourse!"
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 23, 2017 22:29:27 GMT -5
Heading over there as fast as he could, he interviewed the man in charge of overseeing the horses if anything odd had been happening recently.
"Now that you mention it... some nights we've been finding a few gates that are supposed to be locked left open, and one of the horses has been acting rather restless recently" he explained.
"Which one?" Stein asked.
"Old Thunder; why do you ask?" The man replied.
"Mr. Jameson, please take me to see the horse" Stein replied.
Going to the stall, Stein found himself standing next to a well built brown horse. And yet when he looked at the horses fur, there was something covering it...
"This white powder... it's exactly like the powder I've been finding at the crime scenes!" Stein observed. Then it hit him "The witnesses described the dullahan and horse as looking ghostly, so the white powder... of course! But... why not just use a white horse? Why go through the trouble of making a brown horse white?" He thought to himself
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Post by Toz76 on Apr 23, 2017 23:05:15 GMT -5
Stein picked up the powder and sniffed it. He suddenly felt faint.
"Ugh..." he moaned, collapsing.
When he woke, Jameson stood over him. "You passed out in the stables."
"The powder! It must be some sort of hallucinogenic substance. It would strengthen the illusion... and I took a whole whiff of it! It's a miracle I'm not dead." He thought. "I better find someone who can identify that stuff."
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Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 23, 2017 23:17:22 GMT -5
A few hours later, he was back at headquarters and explaining everything that he had found out with the horses and his theory concerning the opera singer. But the test results were not what he expected.
"Well we tested the white powder and... well, it's mostly make up; like what actors use to make themselves look like ghosts" the officer explained.
Stein was confused. "Make up? then what knocked me out?"
"Perhaps you were allergic?" One officer innocently suggested, causing the others to stare at him.
"Well, we gotta consider all possibilities until ruled out!" He argued
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