The Strange Case of William Blake and Thomas Burton

[Ron Caliburn]

Got a little story to tell you about a place called Fort Kent in Alberta, Canada.

William Blake was the leader of a commune of some kind around 1756. A local farmer was killed by what seemed to be a bear and the folks of Fort Kent Alberta blamed the members of the commune. Blake and his followers refused to leave, although they should have. The very next year the farmers went back to the commune and found that all within it were dead, eaten by each other. The farmers burned the commune to the ground and left.

Fast forward 165 years to shortly after World War I and Dr. Thomas Burton leaves England for Canada to settle in Fort Kent. He does well as a doctor in the town, but the town does poorly due to logging in the area. Rats come seemingly out of nowhere and infest the town, causing disease to spread, Burtons business picks up.

Unfortunately for the doc, his wife dies of small pox in 1921. He is naturally quite upset and refuses to take any more patients, locking himself in his house.

Shortly afterwards he changes his name to William Blake.

The story gets worse from here, Burton begins to kill isolated farmers and transients in horrific ways and then, one night in October 1921 he assaults the town at night killing all but eleven before walking off into the bush, never to be seen again.

The following year a farmer near Fort Kent hears something other worldly howling out in his barn. He investigates and encounters a creature with glowing red eyes. The farmer shoots the creature, several times, before it decides to wander back into the bush.

When the farmer checks on his livestock the following morning, they are all dead.

All true, all documented.

[Logan]

Fort Kent does not appear to be the work of lycanthropes.

Rats come seemingly out of nowhere and infest the town, causing disease to spread

How many lycanthropes can control rats and vermin?

Unfortunately for the doc, his wife dies of small pox in 1921. He is naturally quite upset and refuses to take any more patients, locking himself in his house.

Anyone want to bet that this lasted for 3 days give or take a couple hours to compensate for sunup/sundown times at higher latitudes before the name change?[/quote]

The story gets worse from here, Burton begins to kill isolated farmers and transients in horrific ways and then, one night in October 1921 he assaults the town at night killing all but eleven before walking off into the bush, never to be seen again.

Starts with isolated individuals while his confidence in his new-found abilities improves, then moves on to those who he had strong enough ties to.


Classic historic case file. Older than the system so there is no ability to really follow up. Looks more like a bloodsucker than a lycanthrope though.

[Clarity]

_____I don’t understand what you mean, Miss Heather. The story doesn’t say anything about werewolves.

[Ron Caliburn]

Well, the natives in the region have a word for cases like this.



Wendigo.