After the big July 4th fireworks had disappeared, as well as the headaches from the respective Mayoral Candidate shindigs, I was sitting at home, trying to relax and work through a food-induced coma when I got a text from my coworker, Phillip Rodriguez. He said that there were a series of strange thwarted robberies, scattered throughout downtown over the long holiday weekend.
You can read about those in the Police Blotter, here in the Gazette. But that's not what has me so intrigued.
We're a small town. Things like this are absolutely not the norm. Whether it be our amazing local law enforcement or just a lot of good-natured folks living in and around town, this just isn't an every day occurrence.
So for multiple robberies to happen, not to mention go awry, it's definitely suspect.
I dug deeper. I found out from a local source (name withheld) who had been accosted, and then reached out to the almost-victims.
The two people, one female and one male, decided to stay in the shadows and of course were shaken up, however both had a very similar experience and just days apart.
The gentleman woke up to noises downstairs. Peering outside from an upstairs window, he saw a man, picking his backdoor's lock and opening the door to enter the premise. He grabbed his cellphone and locked his bedroom door and made a frantic call to the King Falls Sheriff's Department.
While on the phone, another man dressed in all black, wearing a mask, hopped his fence and bounded into his home through the open back door.
"I heard what sounded like a scuffle. Glass breaking, which was my living room coffee table. Then silence. I was terrified. That's when I heard it." my John Doe told me, shaking and reliving the frightening moment.
"I heard a voice say, like, really raspy. ' Be Afraid ... Be Afraid of The Dark' and then running footsteps." When Deputy Troy Krieghauser arrived at the scene, he was impressed that John Doe not only stopped the robbery but tied up the robber himself. Of course, that wasn't done by John Doe at all, but The Dark.
My Jane Doe was walking her dog, Fi Doe let's call him, out around the Main Street Park around dusk on Sunday. She felt a tug at her shoulder and watched a man running away from her, her purse dangling from his hands.
"I was on my phone not paying attention and then I felt this jerking motion down my arm. Then I noticed the creep sprinting away from me. Literally, before I could call out. Before I could open my mouth to yell at this guy. A man, dressed in all black. Mask and everything, came out of the bushes and just trucked this guy. Knocked him out of his shoes!" Jane told me excitedly.
She ran to catch up and get a better look, but by the time Jane arrived to the fracas, all was over but the crying.
"The jerk was in tears. The masked man laid a karate-type beating on him and ziptied his hands to a park bench. He threw my purse to me, smiled and gruffly said 'Be afraid of the dark.' I called the cops and they took the purse-snatching ass away but kinda laughed about my masked hero. But I'm not laughing. I'm thankful."
A masked vigilante roaming the streets and alley's of King Falls? Apparently local radio station, King Falls AM, received a call similar to this a few months back as well. Another thwarted robbery. Another "Be afraid of The Dark."
There's more to this story. I'm going to keep digging until my spidey senses subside. Have you or someone you know encountered the masked man calling himself The Dark? If so, we should talk. Until then stay safe and aware of your surroundings.
But be afraid of the dark? Not in this reporter's book.
@KingFallsSammy
@KingFallsTroy
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