IT HAPPENS 

 

July 18, 1975 - Rural Southern Illinois

        Officer Burke steps out of his green and white police vehicle that is parked on the side of County Road 141 in Corral County, Illinois. He’s a tall man in his late thirties with dark hair. He takes one last drag from his cigarette and flicks it on the side of the road. It’s a very hot day and the cigarette ignites a patch of dry brown grass. He stomps on it until it’s flattened, smashing the fire and smothering the flame.

            He takes a deep breath and removes his police cap to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
            He joins Sheriff Rhodes, whose police vehicle is also parked on the side of the road. Sheriff Rhodes is staring at something on the ground right off the road in a ditch beneath two trees. In disgust, Officer Burke’s face falls.
            “Ever see anything like this before?” Sheriff Rhodes asks in his Midwest accent.
            Officer Burke shakes his head with an unfortunate glare.
            Sheriff Rhodes in his mid 60’s and appears to be ready to retire and after seeing today’s scene, now more than ever.
            Lying on the side of the road is the dismembered body of what appears to have been a woman in her 20’s. She wears a white dress stained with dried blood and dirt. The two law enforcement officers look down to see her body, head missing.
            The sun beats down on the body and Sheriff Rhodes holds a soiled brown handkerchief to his mouth and nose in hopes of covering the stench. 
            “She’s been dead for at least a week.” He says.
            “What ya thinkin?” Officer Burke asks looking away from the body.
            Sheriff Rhodes looks around. Fields of farmland as far as the eye can see surround them.
            “The body was dumped here.” He responds. “Not seen anything like this before either.”
            “Serial killer?” Officer Burke asks pulling out another cigarette from a pack in his right shirt pocket not daring to look at the dead body again.
            Unconvinced of Officer Burke’s question, Sheriff Rhodes shakes his head. “Nah, not quite yet. First body and hopefully the only body.” He says.
            “Then what?” Officer Burke lights his cigarette and takes a very long drag.
            “May be a pissed off husband. Or she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.” He says.
            “Who reported it?” Officer Burke asks.
            “Old man Stanton said he was driving to Maisy’s farm when he saw something on the side of the road resting near these trees. Once he got close to it that’s when he realized it’s a dead body.”
            “Resting?” Officer Burke takes another drag of his cigarette. Then, “Stan is on his way.” He informs Sheriff Rhodes. Stan is Corral County’s only Coroner. Corral County is located in Southern Illinois and is made up of a lot of small towns and hundreds of miles of farmlands. Mainly corn and bean fields, but murders are not something that occur in Corral County, IL… Ever.
            When Stan finally arrives, with his old beaten up Corral County van, he vomits three times after seeing the body. He’s a slender man in his late forties and a nightly “drink the entire bottle of whiskey” player. The first retch was from last night’s whiskey, the second was from his toast he had for breakfast to soak up last night’s whiskey, and his third, well that was most likely the remaining whiskey.
            Sheriff Rhodes pats Stan on the back as Stan leans on his truck for support. His wooziness was not from last night’s adventures with the bottle, but for the grotesque sight of the headless dead woman.
            Another two officers arrive on the scene and begin to place yellow police tape around the trees where the body still lies.
            “No need to bother with that boys.” Sheriff Rhodes says. “Old man Stanton already made his run this morning on this road. No one else’s coming out here except a tractor or two maybe this month to work the fields.”
            The other two officers stop as Officer Burke helps Stan pull out a black body bag and a stretcher from the back of his truck.
            After another hour in the hot sun, and several photographs taken, the body is now ready to be transported.
            Stan, who has now pulled himself together, leans down to move the body. He slaps on his latex gloves and motions for assistance.
            Officer Burke and Sheriff Rhodes eye one of the other officers and one man joins in and pulls on a pair of latex gloves to help.
            When they lean down to lift the body a piece of the woman’s dress moves revealing something on her sternum.
            “What in the hell?” Stan asks as Sheriff Rhodes and Officer Burke lean down.
            Right below the woman’s cleavage line appears to be a wound on her skin. Officer Burke removes a pen from his right shirt pocket, next to his cigarette pack, and uses it to pull down the dress and reveals a line carved into her skin.
            All the men eye each other in bewilderment. Then Stan pulls out a small pocket knife and cuts her dress down revealing her entire stomach.
            Their faces turn a pale green as they all grab a handkerchief from their pockets and cover their mouths. Stan and Officer Burke gag into their handkerchiefs.
            A twelve inch upside down cross has been carved deep into the woman’s abdomen.
            “What kind of satanic bull…” Sheriff Rhodes says standing up.
            “Is that an upside-down cross above her…” Officer Burke begins, but can’t seem to finish his sentence without gagging once again.
            “Who would do such a thing?” Stan asks looking up at the men.
            Sheriff Rhodes gazes into the fields of farmland searching for something, for someone perhaps. Anything, but all he can see are the undisturbed farm lands.
            “Call the rest of the boys out here.” Sheriff Rhodes commands Officer Burke. “We gotta find this head!”
            What these five men do not realize is they are not alone on this country road. In the fields several people are closing in on the five officers studying the dead body in the ditch. These people are wearing worn clothes and are carrying tools of some sort. Some carry pitchforks and small axes while others carry sickles and shovels. Are they farm tools or weapons?
            As the people are steps away from the officers, they hold the farm tools high in the air and charge at the officers!
            The people attack the five men! Horrifying screams suddenly erupt as the sounds of the weapons slam into the officers’ flesh and bodies.

            The events that happened on the afternoon of July 18, 1975 in Corral County, Illinois would haunt the rural County for decades to come.  The grizzly murders of the officers would not go unexplained though.  Through a careful investigation, several arrests, and a trial that rocked the state of Illinois in 1976, the headless woman and the officers’ lives would be avenged.

 

AFTER IT HAPPENED

            It wasn’t until the next night that the officers’ mangled bodies were discovered.  The bodies were no longer on County Road 141, but found in several abandoned barns and old condemned farmhouses surrounding the farmlands.  On the evening of the officers’ murders Deputy Carlson, a young man in his mid-twenties, was dispatched to the scene where the headless woman lay.  After no communication between Sheriff Rhodes for several hours, dispatcher Nancy Conner, a plump woman in her 50’s, dispatched Deputy Carlson to check out the scene.  Upon arriving he found Sheriff Rhoades, Officer Burke, and Stan’s vehicles, but they were nowhere in sight.  He nearly tripped over the headless woman, whose body still lay in the ditch.  As he scanned his eyes around the scene he noticed fresh blood stained the brown grass, and it was a lot of blood.  He slowly stepped backward towards his patrol car to radio Nancy to send help.
            The next day, at first light, an investigative team was assembled.  The remaining Corral County officers, with the assistance of the State Police, searched the farmlands for the officers and opened an official case for the headless woman.  After an exhausting eight-hour search one by one the missing officers were found within one mile of her body.  The details of their mangled bodies were never released to the press.
            Inside the abandoned barns and farm homes, where the bodies were found, was evidence of squatters in the buildings.  Though no squatters were physically found, old blankets, ragged clothing, and empty food wrappers covered the floors.  What sent chills down the investigative teams’ spines were demonic carvings and drawings on the walls.  Some of the drawings were even painted in blood, from what could only be assumed was the murdered officers’ blood.  It was clear to the investigative team that there was a group of people, within the last 24 hours, who occupied these buildings and created these demonic images on the walls.  Pictures of the images would later be leaked to the press showing upside down crosses, a devil with horns and goat feet, stick men being thrown into a fire by the devil’s tail, and more disturbing pictures to follow.
            Several wax candle stubs were scattered about indicating that a séance of some sort occurred recently.  Most likely, the night before and with the mangled bodies involved, they could only assume some sort of satanic ritual.  What they believed they had on their hands was a traveling satanic cult.  Now the question remained, where were they?

WHY IT HAPPENED

            They called themselves The Hellers and they were the group of people that savagely murdered the officers and the headless woman.  They were apprehended two counties east of Corral County three days after the officers’ murders.  A farmer had called the local sheriff to report a group of people clad in bloody clothing hiding in his barn. There were a total of 13 members, including their leader, Albert Shaw.  Shaw was in his early thirties and called the remaining 12 members his disciples.  There were eight men and four women and their ages ranged between 19-26 years old.
            During their trials, the Hellers were once compared to the Manson family, but these comparisons were quickly diminished by the local press as the Hellers were very aware of what they were doing and drugs didn’t play any roles in their murders.  They considered the murders as sacrifices to their god, Lucifer.
            The Hellers didn’t start out violent initially.  Shaw formed the group in 1970 to protest the Vietnam War and promote peace in America.  Despite their protests against the violent war, they weren’t being taken seriously by the local media and elected officials so they started to lash out. 
            Shaw, who spent a brief time in Vietnam himself, but was wounded, quickly began to despise everyone who spoke of the war.  He claims the horrendous violence he witnessed changed his life forever.  When questioned about his faith his response was, “No God would allow such mayhem so I turn to another faith.”  That faith would lead him to becoming the leader of a violent satanic cult.
            Recruiting his disciples was easy, according to Shaw.  Most of them were runaways and hitchhikers who followed his teachings and believed in him and his teachings.
            The trials lasted six months and put Corral County on the media’s map nationwide.  The trial ended in numerous convictions for each member, but Shaw packing most of the convictions.  All members were sentenced to be executed.
            The road the officers’ were murdered at is now referred to as Hell’s Road, nicknamed by local teenagers who have passed down the stories from generation to generation of the grizzly violence that occurred on that hot summer day.  It has been rumored that on Friday the 13th and Halloween night traveling satanic cults occupy the road to conduct their own versions of seances.

            The identity of the headless woman was never discovered and it remains a mystery to the present day.  Some believe that she herself was a member of the Hellers, while others debate that she must have been an unreported runaway.  Some urban legends claim to see her headless body wandering the fields of farmland and night.​