The Witches of Western Massachusetts - Douglas Archibald Harbor
Douglas Archibald Harbor was twelve years old when he discovered that he could bend others’ wills to his own. Within three weeks of the discovery, he was dangerously obese and had acquired a social disease which, fortunately, was treatable. And so Douglas Archibald Harbor was twelve years old when he discovered restraint, when he discovered caution, when he set out on his singular path with just the proper dash of humility. Sustaining himself on modest casino winnings and the proceeds from scratch tickets, Harbor wrote several treatises on world affairs which were sent to, and published by, major publications, despite their being poorly organized, devoid of logic, and consisting, in many cases, of one long, rambling, run-on sentence. Harbor was married at seventeen to Joan Whittier, an aspiring model. At twenty-two, having had some small success in the modelling world, success which drew unwitting prospective suitors like a magnet, she was discovered dead, her body bearing not the slightest mark of violence, tangled in the branches at the top of a very, very tall tree not far from the Auburn exit of the Massachusetts Turnpike. In the few years of their marriage, Joan had birthed three children that were known about, and possibly more. Harbor was never suspected. After, he lived a bachelor’s life, haunting bars and coffee-houses, casinos and massage parlors. The corpses he left in his path told no stories; he had, at twelve years old, discovered restraint, discovered caution, when he set out on his singular path. At eighty-two years of age, Douglas Harbor was found dead in his capacious bed, his body bearing not the slightest mark of violence. His children, the known children, were not suspects.