Leatherface of Hamelin (Cross-Over)

[Abishai100]

Leatherface is the fictional chainsaw-wielding cannibal from the iconic Texas Chainsaw Massacre horror film franchise.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a German folkloric character who kidnapped all the children (of Hamelin) when he was not paid for a rodent extermination job.

I enjoy horror-comics cross-overs and have written fan-fic posts about the American comic book superhero Batman (DC Comics), a masked urban vigilante who tackles the criminally insane, tackling Leatherface as well as the folkloric character the Headless Horseman (from the iconic Washington Irving novel story of Sleepy Hollow) meeting Leatherface.

So, I thought it would be interesting to posit an extension tale of the folkloric Pied Piper of Hamelin meeting Leatherface, especially since cross-over tales and stories are all the rage these days.


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Hamelin, Germany was a modest small town nestled in the hills. It suffered from a terrible rat infestation problem and called upon a well-known rodent extractor-exterminator known as 'The Piper.' The Piper traveled by caravan and arrived in Hamelin when the people of the town called on him for his special services. The Piper was a tall and elegant but somewhat strange-looking man who wore a very large hat and carried strange chemicals, gases, and perfumes in his vehicle.

The mayor of Hamelin called a special town hall meeting with the Piper as the main guest of honor and speaker. The people at the meeting expressed their gratitude for the arrival of the skillful Piper and talked about their stressful grudge against the overflowing rats in their town who got into their foodstuffs, crawled along the streets at night in droves, and generally made things unpleasant and ugly. The Piper explained to the mayor and people of Hamelin that they need not worry about their special 'rodent problem' and that all he required was 10 tokens of gold.

The people of Hamelin put their heads and hands together to procure 5 tokens of gold, and the mayor decided he would promise the Piper his fee but then explain when the job was completed that it was impossible to obtain the full 10 tokens of gold. The Piper meanwhile went to work and used his special chemicals, gases, and exhuming perfumes (as well as a strange music flute which he used to hypnotize the rats) to extract and lead the rats toward the Hamelin river where he swept them to drown.

The Piper was pleased with his success, and the people of Hamelin (including the mayor) were thrilled. Every rat was gone, and the streets and homes of Hamelin felt cleaner and more sanitary and obviously less infested. The Piper went to the mayor's office to collect his 10 tokens of gold and was outraged when he discovered that the mayor had only procured 5 tokens of gold. The mayor explained politely that it was impossible to obtain 10 tokens and that the Piper should accept the 5 token payment as the best offer. The Piper took the 5 tokens but then stormed out.

The next morning, the people of Hamelin were horrified when they discovered that all of the children of the town had disappeared. The mayor called an emergency meeting and explained that the night before the Piper (who had successfully rid the town of its rat problem) had taken the 5 tokens of gold as his fee but stormed out. The people realized that the Piper must have kidnapped the children, luring them away from their homes with his strange hypnotizing magic flute and taking them away somewhere with him. Suddenly, one small boy (a child of Hamelin) walked toward the mayor and gave him the 5 tokens given to the Piper.

The Piper had indeed kidnapped all the children and then given the 5 tokens of gold given to him by the mayor and gave it to one small boy who was crippled (and hence too slow to keep up with the rest of the group) to take back to the mayor. The Piper had lured the children away from Hamelin and climbed up a small mountain and taken them into his special cave where he lived. Inside the cave, the Piper continued playing his magic flute for the children of Hamelin. He assured them he was not a monster but an 'angel' who 'rescued' them from a town managed by cruel money-hoarders.

The Piper was playing his flute one day in his cave for the children when he suddenly heard a strange buzzing sound. He told the children to remain calm and silent while he went to explore the source of the sound. As the Piper roamed around his labyrinth-filled cave, he discovered a strange portal inside one of the rock-clefts of the cave. There was a strange light coming from inside the cleft and when he peeked through it, he noticed a maniac running towards him with a strange circular power-tool (which he wielded as a weapon).

The maniac was wearing what seemed to be a mask made out of human skin and was also wearing a black jacket and cloth neck-piece (or tie). The Piper realized this maniac was a messenger from Hell sent to scare the Piper about the children-kidnapping he performed as retribution for the failed payment for the rodent-extraction service in Hamelin. The Piper realized that a Hamelin witch must have called upon this spirit to motivate the Piper to return the children to Hamelin. The Piper signaled to the maniac that he would return the children to their homes in Hamelin, and the maniac turned around and started running away.

The next morning, the people of Hamelin awoke to the sound of a musical flute and singing children walking towards their town, led by the Piper. The witch of Hamelin, Haggen, came out of her abode and started dancing, realizing her magical incantation worked. The Piper returned the children and explained to the mayor that he had forgiven the town for their payment failure. The mayor and the people were thrilled and the Piper returned to his cave and never returned. Haggen remarked to herself, "Invoking the maniacal spirit of Leatherface (the chainsaw-wielding demon) has brought Hamelin a strange good miracle and has revealed the 'bright side of darkness'!"

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[Abishai100]

I really like how that turned out, so I'm doing a continuation story --- a sequel if you will.

This one is about a further exploration of the strange cave-portal realm where Leatherface came from and his relation to the Greek demon figure Medusa (a snake-headed woman who possesses a terrifying gaze).

Enjoy!


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Haggen was pondering how to contact the demonic spirit of Leatherface, since she felt so grateful for how he assisted in the excursion of the Piper and the return of the children of Hamelin to their homes. She shuffled through her pagan notes and practiced several kinds of incantations and spells until she was able to procure an image in her cauldron of the fantastic dimensional reality of the chainsaw-bearing Leatherface. It turned out that Leatherface wandered through a parallel realm that cradled both a desert and a mountain range.

Haggen recruited a woodsman to investigate the cave portal where Leatherface was last seen (during her incantation for the Piper) and warned him that the realm of Leatherface may be occupied by other demons or creatures. The woodsman agreed to investigate for a small fee and explored the mountain cave where the Leatherface-portal was opened by Haggen. Haggen incanted the portal opening once more, and the woodsman saw a light in the cave crevices and through the opening saw Leatherface.

The woodsman, armed with an axe and a bow-and-arrow, decided to go through the portal and saw a sunny desert land with high sand dunes. Leatherface was running around with his chainsaw and wearing his signature black suit and neck-tie. His mask made out of human skin highlighted his cannibalistic nature. As the woodsman moved towards Leatherface, he noticed that on one of the sand dunes, a strange-looking snake-headed woman was writhing around. It was Medusa!

Medusa was a charmer and a poison-artist. She had the power to turn any man into stone with her terrible gaze, and the woodsman noticed Medusa's eyes were glowing brightly and gave off a strange green color. He realized he should not stare directly into her eyes. The woodsman came up with a terrific plan. As Leatherface ran towards the woodsman, the woodsman turned his axe towards the sun at an angle at which the rays of the sun would hit the eyes of Leatherface and Medusa simultaneously.

Medusa and Leatherface were blinded temporarily and both fell to the ground. Leatherface's chainsaw landed on his own leg, gashing it, and the ghoul let out a howl. Meanwhile, Medusa was writhing around on the ground rubbing her eyes in rage. The woodsman took this opportunity to shoot two arrows into the hearts of Medusa and Leatherface and then turned and ran back through the portal-opening Haggen opened and ended up back inside the mountain cave near Hamelin. The woodsman gave a huge sigh of relief and vowed never again to go through the portal.

When the woodsman returned to Haggen's cottage, he explained what had happened, and Haggen paid him handsomely for the fine work. Haggen explained that Leatherface and Medusa were seemingly disarmed and fallen but not convincingly destroyed so she told the woodsman to promise her never to tell anyone of the portal-opening and the occupation of the 'wonder-land' where Leatherface and Medusa both resided, and the woodsman complied.

Years later, Haggen wrote in her journal, "If the demonic spirit of Leatherface is drawn ever again to Hamelin for any reason, I will consider how this Leatherface-Medusa dualism clearly shows us the gross nature of evil. Why a realm would occupy both Leatherface and Medusa must be related to the frailty of human imagination. I must use the experience of these incantations to understand how Hamelin is blessed (and cursed). Thank goodness Hamelin no longer suffers from rat pollution!"

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