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The Bloody Inheritance

“Greed has poisoned men’s souls.” — Charlie Chaplin

Wess Haubrich
5 min readFeb 15, 2022
“Farm House at Night”. Fine Art America

The following is based on a true story.

…I had no idea of the rage inside him as the ax blade fell repeatedly… The voice kept whispering, “you must take what is yours”…

Summer hung around late that year as I sat drinking whiskey in a derelict tavern in the equally derelict nearby town of Quincy. That pleasant September day, I sat, brooding and reading the local paper. I was a keen follower of the news — being the son of a well-to-do local farmer, I had the luxury of doing that all day.

News of the Titanic Disaster dropped off rapidly as a bizarre murder of eight people — six of them children — happened in a tiny Iowa town only two months before. The crime was bizarre enough, with all the windows and reflected surfaces covered by linens. They hadn’t yet caught the culprit.

“you must take what is yours…”

I kept downing shot after shot.

Ray, you son of a bitch! You’re so goddamn lazy! I’m writing you out of the will! You’re the black sheep and you’ll never change!

I couldn’t take any more from the old man. I had to do something. Tonight… So, why was it taking…

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Wess Haubrich
Wess Haubrich

Written by Wess Haubrich

Horror, crime, noir with a distinctly southwestern tinge. Staff writer, former contributing editor; occultist; anthropologist of symbols.

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