Artiodactylanthropy --The assumption of the form and characteristics of a deer held to be possible by witchcraft or magic.
Mary Beth, 21, spent a lot of time with her parents and younger brother when she wasn't working. She had married Delmar, Del Whatney, eight months ago over the objections of family and friends. 'Del' was seventeen years her senior, divorced, and a wife-beating alcoholic.
Mary Beth and Del resided in a small trailer south of Junior, West Virginia. She was employed at a textile mill in nearby Elkins, while he worked as a contract laborer. When things were slow for him, as was often the case, he'd either spend time drinking with his older brother, Roy, or wandering the nearby hills.
Around the third month of their union, Mary Beth began to show up at the mill with an occasional bruise or two. She'd explain to her co-workers how clumsy she was, always bumping into something in the middle of the night. She needn't have bothered. They all knew better, as did her own family. Everyone in the area, it seemed, knew about the Whatneys.
Although Mary Beths father, Grover Row, wanted to protect his baby girl, she adamantly refused his help. For the moment, her independence was more important to her than the injuries she was receiving at home. She kept telling her father she could handle it, that Del was just going through a rough time, being out of work and all. As usual, Grover would grab his rifle in frustration, and mumble under his breath as hed go out to hunt.
The fall was cooler than usual, and the hills smelled of the changing seasons. Animals were scurrying around, storing nuts for the winter to come. Leaves were beginning to take on their vibrant hues.
Del had worked for the better part of a month for the local utility company, trimming branches from the power lines. Though he still found time to tip a jug or two with Roy, the abuse of his wife had almost ceased. Mary Beth was spending less time at her folksplace, and more time at the trailer. She thought, perhaps, things really could get better after all.
By late October, though, Del and his crew had completed their assigned task. The contract had ended, along with his only source of income. With Del inebriated and frustrated, the beatings began again.
Mary Beth was sporting new black and blue marks daily, much to the consternation and concern of those who cared for her.
On a brisk Monday afternoon in early November, Del was in Glady visiting his brother. After several hours of serious drinking, Del decided he needed some air. He left Roy passed out on the living room couch. Barely able to stand, let alone do anything that required effort, he managed to stagger for a mile or two into the Monongahela National Forest.
Stopping to rest, he found himself sitting atop an Indian burial mound, one of many in this area. After taking a leak, he noticed something close to him sticking out of the ground. Del tugged at the object with both hands, and after many tries, was finally able to extricate it. In his hands was a pot, approximately 7 x 5 inches, and shaped like a Greek urn. As he brushed off several hundred yearsworth of encrusted dirt, he could discern the images of moon cycles and deer underneath the grime. The animals, though, were odd-looking. Their upper torsos were human in appearance, while the lower more deer-like. Turning the pot upside down, nothing came out, yet something was definitely rattling. Thinking it might be gold or jewelry, Del thrust his hand inside of it. There was an immediate sensation of pain, and he quickly withdrew his arm. His ring finger was bleeding. Shaking the object in anger, a sharpened bit of antler fell out. No gold, no jewelry, just a piece of bone. Tossing the pottery aside and licking his finger in disgust, Del noted it was beginning to get dark. Sobering up, he began to feel ill, and decided to head back to his brothers. When he returned, he found Roy still passed out, exactly where hed left him. Sitting down on the opposite end of the couch, he soon fell asleep.
Sometime after new moonrise, the change took place. Del's dreams were of deer, all manner of deer. His visions were of deer courting, mating, birthing, nursing, playing, feeding, dying and everything in between. He saw the world through the eyes of a deer, as if he himself were one. Before long, he was prancing through the woods, an animal born of the forest.
What Del didn't know was that the ceremonial pot he'd so callously discarded belonged to a powerful medicine man, the leader of a deer cult. It was his burial mound Del had desecrated. The sharpened bit of antler was a tool used in an initiation rite, one in which members of the tribe would become, according to the cycles of the moon, the animal they worshipped; in this case, deer.
When Roy opened his eyes the next morning, he had a difficult time recognizing his own trailer. Albeit a pig sty to begin with, its furniture had been overturned, the television screen was smashed in, clothes were scattered about, and there was a strong scent of musk everywhere. As he rose from the couch, he took two steps and stumbled. Looking down, he discovered hed tripped over the half naked body of his brother. Believing that Del had trashed his home, Roy began kicking him.
Del awoke to a hangover, shredded shirt and pants, no socks or shoes, and someone kicking him in the ribs. He instinctively shoved his brother, sitting up and cussing at him with every curse word he knew. Roy returned the favor, yelling and blaming Del for all the damage. He told his younger sibling to get the hell out.
Del staggered out the door without saying another word. He jumped into his truck, and headed back to Junior. Roy, beginning to clean up, wondered why there was animal fur covering everything.
Without a job or his brother around to occupy his time, Del made life for Mary Beth a continuous nightmare. She was so bruised and battered she stopped going over to her parent's house, for fear theyd retaliate against her husband.
Two weeks had passed since the incident in Glady. On a Monday night, the 15th of November, Mary Beth was cleaning up in the kitchen, while Del was staring at the television screen, nursing a pint of Jack Daniel's. Putting away the last dish, she took note of the full moon rising behind a nearby stand of trees. Lost in that orbs magnificence, Mary Beth was brought back to reality by a sudden crash in the living room. Rushing into the room, she saw that a lamp was overturned, and the front door was open. Wondering where Del had gone off to, she peered outside. It was then her eyes beheld a most bizarre sight. Standing 100 yards from the trailer was something that appeared to be half human and half deer, dressed in Del's clothing. The creature looked back at her, its eyes reflecting the lunar light, and bolted into the woods. Mary Beth slammed the door shut, and quickly locked it. She then phoned her father, who drove over to see what was going on.
When Grover arrived at the trailer, he was shocked to see the beaten face of his baby girl. It took several minutes for him to calm down long enough to listen to his daughters story. He told her to keep the trailer locked up tight, and to wait for his return. It was his intention to go looking for whatever it was that scared Mary Beth, and had possibly attacked Del. It was also his intention, if the 'thing' hadn't done something to him first, to do something bad to his son-in-law. Either way, Delmar Whatney was in for an unpleasant evening.
Letting his blue tick hound, Oatie, out of the truck, Grover then retrieved his Coleman lantern, rifle, and a small pack.
By the time he reached the dirt road, his dog was already there sniffing and pawing at a flannel shirt and jeans, which he presumed were Dels. There were tracks nearby, but he couldnt quite make out what they were. They looked like deer hooves, but were larger than any hed ever seen before. Oatie charged ahead, his nose inches above the ground. Though Grover carried a compass and light, the moons luminosity made tracking an easy task.
Around 10:00, Mary Beth heard the sounds of Oatie baying as he exited the forest. Not far behind came his master, who was hauling something large slung over his right shoulder. As she opened the front door, she saw her father heave a blood-soaked sack into the rear of his truck. "Couldn't find him anywhere," he said, "but I did kill a deer. Butchered it right out there in the woods."
"What could have happened to him, Daddy?" she asked timidly.
"Who gives a damn," he answered. "You'd best stay with me and your mama for awhile. Well let the sheriff handle this now."
Mary Beth did as she was told, and returned to her parentshome. After storing the meat in the freezer, Grover contacted the Sheriff, who came over about 20 minutes later.
Both he and his daughter were interviewed about the matter. Later that same evening, the Sheriff made a preliminary search of the Whatney's trailer and grounds. The articles of clothing found by the roadside were collected as evidence in the on-going investigation.
For the next several days, law enforcement personnel searched the area for possible clues to Delmar's disappearance. They also spoke to anyone who might have had contact with him recently, including his brother. For a time, Roy was considered a 'person of interest,' someone who might have had reason to harm his younger sibling. After all, Del had argued with Roy the last time they were together.
With little for the police to go on, and no evidence of foul play, Delmar Thurgood Whatney was finally listed as a missing person,and the case filed away. There were those, however, who continued to harbor suspicions about both Roy and Mary Beth. Each, it would seem, had motive. It was certain the gossip in Junior would go on for years to come.
The week of Thanksgiving, the Row residence was humming with the arrival of family. Uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews rolled in from all parts of Appalachia to attend the festivities.
Mary Beth was there, along with her brother, Jimmy, and the hosts of the feast, Eula and Grover. There would be no shortage of food: turkeys, stuffing, biscuits and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, mince, apple and pumpkin pies were but a few of the delicacies to be consumed.
Grover thought to include the venison hed frozen ten days previously. Letting it out to thaw, he noted something odd taking place. Reaching room temperature, it no longer smelled or looked like deer. On one small spot where hed failed to cut away the hide, animal fur had been replaced by human skin. This was all very strange, indeed.
On Thanksgiving Day, the Rows gathered together in the kitchen to decide what to do about the meat. For a short time, they simply stood there in silence. Without having to say a word, they all seemed to know exactly what lay before them on the counter. As Grover looked over at his daughter, whose face was now almost completely healed, she said in a firm voice, "Cook it up, Daddy, lets eat!"
