Bitter Pill to Swallow

What's up, MMers? This story comes to us from Melinda Hardy, a nurse at Stephens Memorial Hospital. She tells us that one of the women she worked with for five years, another nurse (who wished to remain anonymous) told her this story. "[She] was totally the most honest person I have ever met. She wouldn't lie to save her soul," Melinda told us. 

The story starts about ten years ago, somewhere around 2010 or 2011. A patient came to see a doctor at a private practice where the other nurse worked before coming to Stephens. This patient suffered from chronic pain due to a motorcycle accident a year prior. He had recovered from his injuries, but the pain still lingered. Ibuprofen wasn't cutting it anymore, so he went to the doctor to get some relief. They tried a number of different prescription pills, but nothing seemed to take. In the end, the doctor gave him something different.

What did "Billy's" doctor prescribe him?

"My friend told me she hadn't seen pills like that before," Melinda said. "She didn't recognize the name, but that's not that uncommon. There's always new varieties coming out. She just assumed it was some new brand that a pharmaceutical rep had given to the doc."

The patient, we'll call him Billy, took the pills. He called the doctor's office two days later claiming he felt better than he had in months. The pain was gone. The doctor was pleased with the treatment and had Billy come back in a month later for a check up.

They continued a treatment of the medication, but the nurse was surprised that Billy kept coming into the doctor's office to get his medication. "Usually a patient gets a prescription filled at a pharmacy, right?" Melinda told us. "Doctors don't usually give out medication directly, but my friend, I guess for as weird as the situation was, she just trusted her doctor."

Two months go by, with Billy taking these pills. Maybe they're experimental, maybe generic, but maybe - as this nurse was beginning to suspect - it was something more illegal. "But the treatment was working, and when you're in healthcare long enough, you start to realize that whatever works is the best medicine," says Melinda. "He tells them that the pain is gone. He feels great, but that he feels a little numb, like he can't feel anything at all. Well, this alarms the doctor, who tells him that loss of feeling could be a possible side effect. He suggests Billy keep taking the medication unless something doesn't feel right, and that at his three month check up, they'll determine whether or not the numbness has gone away and how to treat that."

But Billy never showed up for his three month appointment.

It wasn't until a month later, that the nurse, now concerned because Billy had always been punctual, decided to call the police for a wellness check. They found Billy in his house; he had been dead for over a month.

"It wasn't an overdose, no siree," Melinda told us. "When the police got there, they could tell something was wrong. They call it in or whatever and when they go inside, there's blood all over the kitchen. They find a rotten leg in the kitchen sink."

It was Billy's leg. They found his other leg in the living room. In the bathroom they found his left arm. They found fingers from his right hand in a trail leading to the bedroom. Billy was on the bed. He had finally bled out. They found the battery operated carving knife he used to sever his limbs.

"He couldn't feel anything, you see?" Melinda told us. "The medication, it made him numb. It took away his pain, but it took away all his pain. He couldn't feel a thing, so when he took the knife to his leg, there was nothing. So he just kept going. 

"At least," she added, "that's the way my friend told it to me.

Pretty wild story. It has just the perfect touch of campfire ghost story to it. So, of course, we at Malevolent Maine did our research. It was a little difficult to find out much without specific names. However, we were able to trace Melinda's nurse friend back to a now closed doctor's office. Using that region as our search bubble we came up with one police report of a thirty-something male being found dead in his home. There was no mention of cause of death. A little more digging did uncover reports of a motorcycle accident about two years before the reported death. There weren't any names attached to the news stories, but again the area and physical descriptions seem to match.

So what do you think, MMers? Could there be some sort of pill out there that makes you feel so numb you could hack yourself apart? It's a a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but our guys are telling us it's probably true.

Be careful what you put in your bodies, MMers

Stay safe out there, Maine.

Look out for the Lobsterman

We know it's still winter, but here's a story  that will send a chill down your spine during even the warmest summer months. This one comes from Lubec, and while we first heard it from Mary Wilkes, just last week we received another siting from Simon Bagwell. We'll start with Mary Wilkes' tale.

Mary tells us that all of the old-timers of Eastport know not to be on the shore during a full moon. She said she heard it from her grandmother, who said she had heard the story from her own mother. The fishermen and their families know that on nights of a full moon, the best thing to do is stay inside and lock the doors and windows.

There are reports of a shadowy figure, a man or a man-shaped thing. They say it walks along the shoreline and the nearby neighborhoods. The figure wears some sort of tattered brown robe and its hands appear to be mishapen, swollen things, looking more like lobster claws in the dark than hands. Mary says the old-timers will sometimes leave small baskets of fish, crabs, clams, or mussels out for this strange figure.

No one knows who or what this "lobsterman" is, but his regular appearance during the full moons for the past sixty years (at least) is cause for some concern. As of yet, no one has reported any nefarious actions by the so-called werelobster, but at least for the people of Lubec, they're not taking any chances.

Which brings us to Simon Bagwell. Simon says he's "an old duffer" who has lived just outside of Eastport in the little town of South Trescott his entire life. Last September, after the flatlanders had left for the summer, Simon was coming home from a night at a local watering hole. He was driving down the South Lubec Road, where the road winds real close to the shore, when his pickup got a flat tire. A real "popper" as he explained it. He pulled over to the side of the road, but didn't have a spare tire. It was late, and Simon wasn't too far from home, so he figured he'd just walk.

He hadn't gone too far from the truck when he heard something walking down along the shoreline. He thought it might be an animal of some sort, but whenever he stopped, the footsteps down on the sand seemed to stop as well, only to continue when he started up again. He called out, thinking it might be another person, but he got no response. 

Simon kept walking, picking up the pace. Whatever it was down on the shore seemed to match his pace. Simon got to a place where the road started to pull away from the shore. As the ground turned from soft beach sand to harder gravel, Simon claims to have heard a scuttling sound, like a dozen little legs all clicking-and clacking over the ground. Simon started to jog but the thing matched his speed, coming closer and closer to him.

Simon ran as fast as he could, but he knew the creature was gaining on him. There was a salty, briny stench in the air, and suddenly the night seemed much colder than it should in early September. Just as he was sure the thing that followed him was about to reach him, headlights splashed across the road. It was a trucker heading north. 

Simon whirled around quickly and saw a blur diving back into the darkness on the side of the road. It was huge, he said, larger than a man, and dressed in some kind of simple, ragged brown robe. Simon swears the creature had some sort of brownish-red shiny skin that looked, "like armor or a shell." Then it was gone.

"I don't know what it was," Simon said, "but I know it scared the pants off me. I ain't never seen nothin' like that in my entire life."

So if you're in the Lubec area during a full moon, be careful!

Stay safe out there, Maine!

Is this what Simon Bagwell saw?

Welcome to Malevolent Maine!

Welcome to Malevolent Maine, the blog about weird, strange, or frightening occurrences from around the state of Maine. We are just three dudes who have always been interested in the paranormal, supernatural, and occult, and we started this blog to learn more about our state and to bring attention to anomalies so many people have experienced. But we need you to send us your stories about weird things you have seen around the state, if we like it we will reach out to you for a personal interview and more information! This is our first time blogging so it will take some getting used to, but we will try to post as often as possible. As long as your stories come in we will research them, write them up, and post them here for all to read! 

If you have a story about odd phenomenon from around the state reach out to us at malevolentmaine@gmail.com, or connect with us on twitter. We look forward to hearing from you and stay safe out there, Maine!