Lockeness Monster


I live in a small town called Locke; it’s just over the border of Oregon. Nothing really happened in my town, well until 1992. I was walking home one day from school with my friend Carly when we heard the scream. It wasn’t one of those far off echo screams, it sounded really close. Then silence. We stood silent for what felt like hours but was only minutes. Then sirens broke us from the silence. Six police cars, two ambulances, and three fire trucks zoomed by. Carly and I ran towards the sirens and stopped dead. What I saw next I will never forget and have never forgotten. The site of a murder.


“Police do not cross” tape covered the parking lot of the local Walmart. There was a girl, maybe 16 or 17 lying on the ground; a stab wound right near her heart. This was the first of the many Locke Murders. They called him or her the Lockeness Monster. The 2nd murder was a 43-year old man, this murder was different, he was shot. He was shot in the same place right above the heart. After each murder, the Lockeness Monster marked the victim with the letter P. The police searched for clues and one day they received an anonymous tip. The police arrested a man named Noel Rogers. Two weeks after his arrest there was another murder. This one a little more personal than the others. She was once a good friend to me, her name was Mary Coral, 13 years old and she was murdered at her house. Her murder was much too gruesome to describe. There was a note stapled to her shirt, it read: Noel Rogers is an innocent man. Keep hunting –P
There were 3 bloodstains on the note, the blood of all 3 victims, the 16 year old, the 43 year old and Mary’s.

The next day Noel Rogers was released. The restrictions were put back on the town. We had to be in our houses by 10:00p.m. Three weeks went by without a word from the Lockeness Monster. Then on a Sunday afternoon, the 4th murder happened. A 70-year-old man hung from the Seaview Bridge, again marked with the signature P. The police spent countless hours searching for the Lockeness Monster. The final murder was a mass murder. The Lockeness monster murdered 34 people total.

Everybody wanted to see ‘The Game” the new comedy with all the best actors and actresses. Theatre number 14 had every single seat filled and there were 60 seats in all, but only 30 of those 60 people came out alive. There were 22 injured. Friday May 7th, 1992 the Lockeness Monster was identified as Brian Dore, 37-years old, he was sentenced for life for the murder of 34 people. Most people wanted Brian on death row, but the town of Locke did not believe in the death sentence. The police caught him in the movie theatre right after the attack. Ever since 1992, Locke has been on high security, making sure another Lockeness Monster doesn’t come. Now it is 2012, it has been 20 years since the murders. Today is May 7th, and exactly 20 years has gone by. The newspaper headlines for May 7th, 2012 will never be forgotten, they read: BRIAN DORE ESCAPES FROM PRISON EARLY MONDAY MORNING. I looked out the window as the news was starting to spread, everybody’s windows and doors were sealed shut and nobody was outside. The phones were going crazy and it was the top headline on every news station. 3 months went by and nobody heard or saw a thing. People were advised not to go anywhere alone, but to travel in packs. But the Lockeness Monster was nowhere to be seen. People went on with their everyday lives. In October 2012, Brian Dore publically killed himself in the middle of the main intersection. The town of Locke was finally at ease. Finally everybody could relax and sleep. The Lockeness Monster was finally dead, everybody rested easy, they never figured out why the Lockeness Monster cut a “P” into all of his victims.