Some things in this world don't have no place in the light.
Dark, cold, alone, evil everywhere.
You've come to the right place to meet your worst nightmares.
Just call me Harlow.
Season 1, Episode 4, Kill the Witch
The crowd rumbles in agreement.
Virgil. Ever since Miss Ellie and Missy started going into town, they've come back changed.
You know it, we know it. Pauses to let Harlow catch his breath and struggle a bit fruitlessly.
They're coming back home a little bit hoity-toity in flower dresses and acting all uppity.
Got their hair all done up and prideful. Sinning.
Two more of the women from the crowd call out whores.
This makes Harlow wince and give a few violent shakes, trying to break free from the men holding him.
Virgil stands up abruptly and admonishes them sternly.
Virgil, angry.
I said that is enough!
Virgil returns to kneeling. Harlow, weeping.
Damn it, Virgil. No. Please. No.
Virgil, misplaced sympathetic.
Then last year this time, you remember Missy made that party, some hain or something, some big idea she got in town.
Grandly, everybody's doing it!
We let it to go on because we thought it'd be fun and for the youngins.
You remember? Dress up and all.
Harlow is nodding and weeping, head hanging down only looking up now and then.
Harlow.
Uh-huh. Virgil. As is speaking to a child.
You remember what happened? Remember all them kids got sick on them bad apples?
Remember Ed and Joe and Matthew getting drunk and fighting with everybody?
They don't do that no other times.
Harlow. Oh, bullpucky.
You ain't trying to blame that on Missy's party, are ya? Are ya? Virgil.
Remember the Baileys barn got burnt down with them candles in them gourds?
Har, nothing but bad come from that night, that so-called party.
That's the devil's party night, Har.
The word, the book, says so.
Harlow collapses into a crying mess, looking back and forth between Virgil and Missy and the men holding the rope crank behind her.
Virgil.
Condescendingly.
We knowed it was the devil when he came visit your door and put the pox on Miss Ellie, took her down with the TB.
How'd you be so blind, brother?
Harlow steals himself knowing his reply may be his last opportunity.
Harlow, slightly composed, defiant.
Virg, all's y'all. Look.
Look at what all y'all's been cooking up to do to my poor girl.
She lost her maw worse way she could, and all she did was try and give y'all some good spirits.
Now. Now.
What are y'all doing to her?
Virgil stands up beside Harlow.
He places his left hand on top of Harlow's head while someone steps forward and hands him an open Bible.
Virgil scans a few lines and begins to speak to the crowd.
Harlow is being held tightly by the two men still as he struggles and cries harder.
Virgil.
Speaking as if from the pulpit, arms outstretched.
Lord, we gather here in this somber light to do your work.
There is no joy in what we must do, but in your name we must purge the darkness from our roles.
The crowd mumbles amen.
Harlow wails painfully.
Virgil.
Only pure of spirit and pure of heart shall dwell among our flock.
Pity the stray who has led to darkness, for there is no room in your eternal salvation for thee, hallelujah.
The crowd answers hallelujah.
Virgil.
We are all brothers and sisters, by flesh and blood or by faith.
Even those we trusted most can be the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Lo, we have been so cursed in our family this dark day.
The sky begins to darken, the wind picks up, clouds were by.
An unsettled feeling moves over the scene.
Virgil.
Lord, you showed us the way when you banished the first fork of the devil's tongue with the TB.
Lord, you gave us that sign so we'd know what to do with the other fork.
And now we humbly come to do your bid.
Harlow, wailing, thrashing to get loose.
Stop, stop, stop!
You all done gone crazy?
The man breaks down.
Missy!
One of the men holding Harlow belts him across the face to shut him up.
Blood trickles from his lip and nose.
Harlow, quietly realizing how bad this is.
Y'all's the evil.
Y'all's the ones doing killin' for no reason.
Y'all's fell for lies.
Book of lies.
Cherry-pickin' words you wanna believe and ignoring the ones you don't.
The man wax Harlow on the back of the neck.
Missy!
Two weeks, barely able to speak.
Daddy?
What did I do, Daddy?
Dah!
The men behind Missy with the well crank give it a sharp snap which jerks Missy's legs backwards painfully another six inches.
You can hear hip and knee joints pop.
Her knees almost down to the ground.
Maddie, heartlessly.
Shut up, Satan!
Both men laugh and Virgil shoots them a disapproving look.
Harlow.
Through tears struggling.
Missy.
Baby girl, I... I...
The man holding him wax him in the head again.
Korra, impatiently.
Get on with it, Reverend!
The crowd roars in agreement.
Virgil.
Struggling inside but not wavering in his message.
Voice shaky looking skyward.
Lord, and now we will deliver the other fork of Satan's tongue back to the hellfire it come from.
Amen.
Virgil pauses and turns toward Missy.
Her head is down and she is breathlessly fading in and out of consciousness from the intense pain of her legs being pulled savagely back and broken behind her and the beating and pricking tests she has endured for hours this evening.
Witches' tests supposedly confirming Missy is a witch, superstition in dully by the congregation.
Virgil.
Harlow on the head before removing his hand.
Speak softly.
I'm sorry, brother.
Virgil takes a deep breath and begins reading from notes in the Bible in his hands.
Virgil.
We find you, Missy Ellen Greer, guilty of bringing the devil to our homes.
Guilty of trying to peddle witchcraft to our young uns.
Guilty of practice in black arts.
Guilty of hiding your evil ways.
Pause.
You, Missy Ellen Greer, failed the prick test and you have four devil marks to boot.
In the eyes of us here and now, in the eyes of the Lord, you are found guilty of being a witch and must serve accordingly.
The crowd lets out an amen.
Cheers.
Virgil.
Now it's time.
It's on your devil night and also it's fitting.
Door to hell's wide open so we can send you home.
Let's get to it.
Virgil.
Contact.
Motioning and nodding to the men.
Maddie and Cleve at the well crank in the third man with the scythe standing beside Missy.
Maddie? Cleve?
The men nod back.
The two men at the crank lean into their position to begin on cue.
Another, the other man with the scythe standing beside behind Missy,
steps forward to reveal he has been holding a large, thin, bladed, sickle scythe.
The gleaming, freshly sharpened blade reflects the dying sunlight across Harlow's face.
Virgil, let's commence now.
We got to take all five points of the witch to rid the evil proper.
Five points of the devil's star.
Long pause.
First, the hands.
Whoa, the hands that done the devil's work.
The hands that cast the spells of darkness and evil.
The hands that mix the potions and try and feed to our young uns hid in sweet apples.
The hands will hold no more.
The hands will do no more devil's work.
The left hand of the devil first.
Low.
Amen.
At that, the man with the scythe steps forward alongside Missy's chair and raises the scythe above his head.
He raises his eyes and looks up, lips muttering a silent prayer.
Virgil, praise be, let it be so.
The scythe flies down in the blink of an eye and there is a dull thud on the ground.
Harlow's head has been hanging down this whole time,
but he sees Missy's severed left hand land on the ground just in front of his face, fingers twitching.
The cream wells up inside him, but nothing comes out of his mouth but a dry gasp.
His eyes are nearly popping out of his head.
May me, jubilant. Hallelujah, burn the witch.
Someone in the crowd repeats, burn the witch.
Virgil nods to the scythe man who moves to the other side.
Missy is catatonic in shock and blood pumps from her severed left wrist.
Down comes the scythe again, her right hand falling to the ground.
Virgil nods again to the scythe man to kick the severed limbs into the bonfire.
The flames leap and spark from the wet pulpy flesh as it hits the red hot coals.
The crowd is gaining steam and erupts, enchanting burn the witch.
Upon seeing this,
Virgil, the witch's feet shall never touch the sweet lord's earth or green pastures again to carry darkness across his land.
The feet that carried the devil's work to our home, the feet that defiled the land they stepped on.
The feet will no more trample on God's good earth.
Amen!
Virgil nods to the crankmen. They begin turning the well crank,
pulling the rope tied to Missy's legs back with great effort.
These two big men are leaning into their work and Missy finally is able to let out a guttural and pained animal-like wailing.
Her head bobs up weakly, enough to see her eyes bulging as she feels unimaginable pain.
Her legs are literally being ripped from her body backwards.
Her hips pop loudly as the joints break and dislocate.
Then her knees and ankles do the same as they are pulled apart from the femurs below.
She is a grotesque shape being broken apart.
Her lower spine snapping and blood soaking her long skirt from the waist down as her bones are beginning to rip through flesh beneath.
Harlow is in complete shock. His mouth is just opening and closing, eyes fixed wide open.
His face is less than two feet from his daughters, who is being literally torn apart right before his very eyes by the people he has served as a moral compass his entire life.
The rope gives way and the crankmen almost topple over.
They see one leg torn off from below the knee and the other has been ripped away from Missy's body from the upper thigh.
They begin to cut the ropes and drag the severed limbs to the bonfire.
Virgil and the last point, remove the head and the body will die.
Virgil nods to the side man and the long blade comes down in a wide arc intending to decapitate Missy at the neck.
Harlow screaming, baby gir.
At that instant she raises her head slightly in a jolt to speak one final time.
Missy tear and blood streaked face.
Dad, her motion causes side man to miss his intended target.
The blade catches at an angle across Missy's face from her left jaw just at the corner of her mouth and slices across to her right cheekbone where it neatly and cleanly slices the top half of her head off at an angle.
The top half of Missy's head flies upward through the air, a trail of blood and brain matter spewing out.
It incidentally lands just next to the bonfire where the side man flips it into the burning coals with the tip of his side handle.
The crowd falls silent aside from the occasional hallelujah or amen.
In a few moments people begin to walk off. The two men let go of Harlow. He is in total collapse.
He crumples into a fetal position as Virgil and Korra and Mamie approach him and look down.
Korra in unison, quietly then joined by Mamie and some others.
Neko, Kaeda, Mortifico.
Harlow's eyes find their way to look up at the three of them staring down at him. Then he sees it.
Unbelievably, another new level of fear shoots through his body. How long has this evil following him and his now family?
Who are these people who had once been people who had been his community, his congregation, his life? All gone.
Their eyes are fixed on him. This is something well beyond traditional evil.
Their pleasure in ridding their community of perceived evil at the expense of Harlow's family.
His mind is racing, but he is reeling from the unsurmountable horror he has endured from the hands of the people he thought were like family.
This...this can't be happening.
After a moment one of the men on the crank, Maddie, steps up to the group.
Maddie had a shovel in one hand and looking at Harlow still weaving back and forth on his hands and knees, looking up then down.
Maddie, heartless, feeling good about what he has done.
Eh, uh-huh. You listening, boy?
Trying to get Harlow's attention. Cleave done gone fishing what's left of your witch out the fire.
Maddie drops the shovel in front of Harlow.
Now we'd say you need to clean up your mess and get her in a hole and you get gone for sun up.
Uh-huh. You hear, boy?
The group walks away now leaving only Virgil with his brother.
Harlow is nearly frozen on his hands and knees staring down at the ground and the flames of the bonfire dying.
Virgil places a hand on Harlow's shoulder.
Virgil. Praise be, brother. Praise be. Amen.
Thank you for watching.