Ten claws

The Ten Claws is a scary horror story about a town that is plagued by a mysterious monster that kills sheep, cows and even humans. It is also known as 'The 10 Holes'. Many years ago, a small village in Germany was held in the grip of terror. It began when a number of farmers in the area started complaining that a wild beast was preying on their livestock. None of them knew what kind of animal it was. Nobody had ever managed to lay eyes on the mysterious beast. It seemed to strike with devastating savagery, then vanish into the night as quickly as it had appeared. It never left any tracks behind. One morning, at the break of dawn, a farmer went out to check on his sheep and found a horrifying scene. In the middle of his field, there was a bloody mess of raw meat and white wool. Three of his sheep had been disemboweled and partially devoured during the night. A few days later, another farmer woke to find two of his best sheepdogs had been killed. They lay dead at his back doorstep, their stomachs ripped open and their internal organs torn out. As time went on, more and more horses and cattle were found dead, mauled and eaten in exactly the same way. The elusive beast seemed to have a hunger that was insatiable. Soon, everyone in the village had heard about the grisly fate the animals had suffered. Not one person could identify the type of beast that might have killed them. The farmers began to worry that their entire herds could be wiped out. Then, the unthinkable happened. A human being was brutally murdered. It was on the night of a full moon that the town drunk, Thorsten Bauer, was last seen leaving the local pub and staggering home along a dark country road. In the morning, his mauled remains were found lying in a ditch by the side of the road. His body had been torn to pieces and his severed head was impaled on a rusty iron gate. When news of the killing spread throughout the village, the people were thrown into hysteria. The villagers were terrified. Now that the beast had a taste for humans, nobody was safe. Most people were afraid to set foot out of doors after sundown. Farmers made sure they kept all of their livestock locked safely in their barns. Men and women alike began to arm themselves with whatever weapon they could find. Families locked their door and bolted their windows at night. Mothers went to bed with a knife under their pillows and fathers slept with their shotguns within easy reach. During the day, the talk throughout the village was focused on only one topic. The wild beast. People put forth all kinds of wild theories and speculation. There were some who believed that the killing had not been committed by an animal at all, but a human being. Neighbors eyed each other with suspicion and nobody trusted anybody else. Then sadly, several of the village children just ended up missing without a trace. The men in the village decided that something had to be done, so they banded together to form a mob. They didn't know what they were fighting, which made things even worse. They also lacked a leader, which made them an unruly mob. Unfortunately, it seemed as if they were unable to organize themselves enough to take action. There were two brothers named Wolfgang and Dieter Hoffmann, who lived on the outskirts of the village, near the forest. It had been their cattle that were slaughtered by the beast. Fed up with the inaction of the other men, the two brothers went home to discuss doing something themselves. That evening, they sat around their kitchen table, trying to come up with ideas. Their old grandmother sat by the fireplace in a wheelchair, her black shawl wrapped around her. 'We have to do something and we have to do it tonight,' said Wolfgang. 'If we delay any longer, the beast will just claim more lives.' 'You're right,' his brother agreed. 'Whatever this thing is, man or beast, it strikes only during a full moon. Tonight, the moon will be full again.' 'We can't underestimate what we are dealing with,' said Dieter. 'This vile thing attacks without warning. It stalks the forests like a ghost. Hunting