Kept from Silverton by Big Baby and the curse
of Red Mountain? nawwwww.
Doctor Patches Traveling Emporium of Horror
& Oddities
If soundtrack does not start, please scroll
to the bottom of the page and press play. In the depths of Winter in the year 1902,
Jerome Claw was born. He
did not come into
the world in the usual
way and it would affect
his life and anyone who
happened to meet
up with him for more than
100 years. Jerome was the result of the union of "Tara
the Torso" and one
of her endless stream
of lovers. No one ever
claimed to be Jerome's
father, either out of fear
or embarassment. Tara, who was born without limbs, worked
as a Carnival Geek for "Doctor Patches
Traveling Emporium of Horror & Oddities"
- one of the many nomadic entertainment outfits
that criss crossed the West. After giving birth to Jerome, Tara did what
she could for the quickly growing boy and
she loved him with all of her heart. In the
early 1900's medical science had not yet
discovered thyroid problems and everyone,
including Tara, blamed his quick growth (both
height and girth) to his geek
Just one of the shows at Doctor Patches Traveling
Emporium of Horror & Oddities
heritage. By the time he was five, he weighed in at
210 lbs making him a favorite on the midway.
His angelic face combined with his grotesque
frame thrilled the crowds. He was a happy
child, for he knew no other life and he was
cherished by all the carnival workers. He
was billed as "Big Baby" Shortly after Jerome turned eight years old,
something happened that changed him from
the loving cherub to a monster. Some say
it was the death of Tara (although no body
was ever found) while others claimed that
"Big Baby" was posessed through
a curse laid on him by a Dwarf with an extra
eye. Whatever it was that turned him into
a souless creature, it also slowed his aging
process. While the other children in his
class were reaching puberty, "Big Baby"
would have to wait another 17 years. He would
only wear a diaper and completely stopped
speaking. In 1921, the carnival closed. Big Baby had
only aged one year since his life changing
experience at 8, and he was sent to the Malcolm
Asylum in Denver where he quietly lived in
solitude for the next 14 years.
News reports of the 1935 Asylum Fire
In 1935, the Asylum mysteriously burned to
the ground killing 230
patients and employees.
All records were destroyed
making it almost
impossible to identify
the dead. The patients
that did escape the fire
and fled were not
willing to come forward
out of fear of being
locked up again. The debate
on whether Big
Baby was a victim or one
of the lucky still
rages today. No mention of Big Baby can be found between
1935 and the Summer of 1972 when a group
of campers went missing between Ouray and
Silverton in the Red Mountain District. The
one surviving camper told a tale of horror,
cannibalism and torture by a huge baby in
a diaper - a "MAN-BABY. The legend of
Big Baby had started. The soul survivor vanished
shorthly thereafter, never to be heard from
again. Since 1972, there have been more than 400
unconfirmed sightings of Big Baby and more
than
One of the missing campers from 1972 - still
not found
2000 people have vanished near Red Mountain.
All blamed on Big Baby. The general belief
is that Big Baby lives in the hidden ghost
town of Red Mountain between Ouray and Silverton,
living on the flesh of wayward hikers and
rancid rotting bear meat. The same town,
Ailsa and Mela had accidently discovered.
Mela and Ailsa
Ailsa and Mela entered the town of Red Mountain,
still not being able to see any color. It
smelled of death and rotting flesh. A light
wind blew causing the old buildings to moan
and creak. "I think the fiddle music
is coming from over there", Ailsa said
as she pointed to an old home surrounded
by dead trees. They both stopped to listen. It was a familiar
tune, but they could not recognize the name
or where they had heard it before. "What
do you want to do?", Mela turned to
Ailsa for some guidance. "The music
is beautiful", Ailsa replied, "nothing
evil could ever make such beautiful music".
Mela agreed and they slowly walked up the
dusty street to the old home. They passed an old general store with a welcome
sign with a strange painting of a little
chubby face in
It was obvious this town was owned by Big
Baby
the center. Neither mentioned it, but their
pace quickened as they passed and soon they
were standing in front of the old house. As they stood just beyond the worn picket
fence, both the music and wind suddenly stopped.
Mela thought she saw the upstairs curtain
move. "Did you see that", Ailsa exclaimed
in a whisper. "The curtain?", Mela
replied. "Noooo, on the trees...look,
but just out of the corner of your eye".
Mela did as Ailsa had suggested and she saw
it too. Grotesque faces that stared at them
until you turned your head to look directly
at them - then they simply vanished. "They
are everywhere", Ailsa softly whispered.
Ailsa was right. They seemed to be everywhere
- devilish faces living in the corner of
your eye like that little squiggly thing
you sometimes get that follows your eyeball.
The door slowly opened as if it were inviting
them in. Mela began to walk slowly up the
overgrown path to the opened door. After
a brief hesitation, Ailsa followed.
Mela and Ailsa follow the fiddle music to.....
Mela peeked inside the open door and only
saw darkness at first. Soon her eyes adjusted
and in the sepia-vision was able to make
out a room that seemed to go on forever.
In the far West corner she could barely see
a shadow and two blinking eyes. "Hello", Mela tried to raise her
voice but she could only muster a soft greeting. The shadow crouched down and then quickly
crawled through an opening
in the wall into
the adjacent room. WTF?
Mela stepped through
the doorway with Ailsa
close behind. The
door slammed shut leaving
the two in a sepia
shadowed dark room lit
only by streaks of
daylight coming from the
holes in the walls
and ceiling. Henry and Tory
Ailsa was unaware of the grafitti that warned
of 3 eye
The jeep hit the river
in a huge splash,
thankfully upright. "That
was totally
not kewl", Henry said
as we both sat
in shock. I agreed and
unbuckled my seat
belt. "Well, I guess
we should see if
getting the rental insurance
was a good idea
after all", I half
jokingly added as
I opened the door and stepped
into two feet
of slow moving water. Henry got into the drivers seat to try to
restart the jeep. GRRRRRR, GRRRRR, was all
that turning the ignition key would do -
and then click click. I checked my cell phone for service, but
I knew before it told me that I was out of
luck. Poofing anywhere was out of the question
since color plays such an important part
of an Avatars life. ""OMG Henry,
you have blood on your shoulder", I
exclaimed as he also got out of the jeep.
Henry looked down and then opened his shirt
revealing a four inch gash beneath a bloody
mess. "YUCK", I said as I sloshed
to the back of the jeep to get a medical
kit. "uhm...Tory?" Henry had a
scared tone in his voice. "I thought
Avatars could not get hurt in Real...least
not this way", his voice had a tinge
of uncertainty and an even smaller tinge
of panic. "I don't know, Henry - this is a first
for me, seeing blood coming from an Avatar
in Real....it just does not happen".
"Maybe it is
The jeep crashed into the river with a splash
having no color - it stops us from poofing,
maybe it has changed us somehow". I
began to mop up the blood on Henry and bandaged
it the best I could to stop the bleeding.
Henry assured me he was okay and we tied
the jeep to four trees along the bank with
rope from our camping supplies. "It'll
hold", Henry said as he shook the last
of the rope tied to a stout cottonwood tree.
"Which way", he asked as we reached
the South riverbank. "We have to find
Ailsa and Mela", I stated firmly. "They
do not know that we can be hurt and maybe
even die". "This way". I pointed
up the cliff to an area near where we had
left the road. We got half way up the embankment when I
heard a yelp from above me and glanced up
just in time to see Henry disappear into
a hole - his hands grasping at shallow rooted
wildflowers; ripping them from the red soil.
Henry was gone. I scrambled as fast as I could uphill to
the hole, reaching it just as the ground
under my feet caved in, sending me tumbling
into darkness deep inside Red Mountain. Big Baby
Jerome Claw (Big Baby) sat in the corner
in one of the many hidden rooms he had created
in the old house. Jerome had grown very good
at tunnel digging, carpentry and masonry
since he had relocated to Red Mountain so
many years ago.
The Malcom Asylum in early 1934
After the Asylum fire, he knew he had to
find a place far away - an invisible place
where he would disappear. He would take his
secret and nothing else. Jerome loved wearing a loose fitting garment
popular in ancient Rome, but mistakingly
called a diaper in modern times. He did not
see any reason for wearing anything else.
His thyroid problem had blessed him with
a thick layer of fat which kept him warm,
even in the coldest of Winters. Jerome cared
nothing of vanity and to him anything more
than a loin cloth was just plain useless. It also served another purpose in that it
helped to keep the impression that Jerome
was "just another retard", "the
big simpleton" and eventually the monster
known as "Big Baby." The more people
that believed this the safer his secret would
be. He would sacrifice everything, even his
own life, to keep the secret safe. It had
been his destiny since the day his mother
left for "The Golden Place". At eight years old, it is a hard thing to
say goodbye to your mother. To feel her nuzzle
once last time. To look into her twinkling
eyes. Mama had not died or abandoned him
as the town folk believed. Mama knew the
secret too and it was her time to give it
up and accept her reward. It was then he
Bib Baby's life changed again with the visit
of lll Eye
decided to embrace the false sterotype of
the "local fat fool" and lived
hidden and peacefully at the Asylum until
the night "lll Eye" paid a visit. Jerome remembers that night as if it were
yesterday. He was safely
asleep in his private
room at the Malcom Asylum
when something
entered his dreams and
told him to awake.
He did. There before his bed was a short 3 eyed cleric.
Big Baby could not move and without moving
his mouth, lll Eye demanded that Big Baby
turn over the secret. Big Baby changed into
his "town fool" persona - drooling
and giggling and acting as if he really did
not have an I.Q. of 195. This sent lll Eye
into a rage and he beat on Big Baby with
his tiny fists screaming in a language from
ancient times. When it was plain to see that Big Baby was
unable (or unwilling) to turn over his secret,
lll Eye held his hand out and a flame appeared
dancing on his child sized palm. With a blow
of his breath, the flame shot across the
room and exploded against the wall, engulfing
Big Baby's room in a firestorm. lll Eye faded
into a gray smoke and vanished. In the chaos
that followed, Big Baby barely escaped unharmed,
but the fire killed many of his fellow "lunatics".
Big Baby watched the fire from a distant
hill top and, with tears in his eyes, headed
West out of Denver to the high country and
found the abandoned town of Red Mountain.
The town which was now his home. Click Here to Turn the Page
Tory and Mela
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In the depths of Winter in the year 1902,
Jerome Claw was born. He
did not come into
the world in the usual
way and it would affect
his life and anyone who
happened to meet
up with him for more than
100 years.
