<just:center><color:ffff00ff>Ben the Butcher<color:ffffffff><just:left>

Ben was a simple man in an old town known as Spooky Hollow. He came to town and was taken under the wing of the village butcher, teaching Ben how to cut meats and render animals. Ben became exceptionally good at it and people would come from towns miles away to get a fresh cut of Ben's meats.

Over the years, Ben became infatuated with a pretty girl who was the local palm reader, Charlotte Ryder. Ben would uncomfortably bring her gifts and treat her as if they were a couple, but Charlotte began to become uncomfortable with his forwardness. When it came time that Charlotte fell in love, it was with the local logger David Deacon who caught her eye, not Ben.

One night at a dinner party, Ben was watching Charlotte through her window, as he typically would be before bedtime. Ben observed the party and saw that she was holding hands with David. A kiss on the cheek was all that Ben needed to barge into the house and confront Charlotte for her betrayal. Charlotte tried to explain that there never was a relationship between them, which infuriated Ben even more. As Ben approached, David stepped between them and a fight ensued. As the two wrestled across the floor, Ben's butcher knife that he kept came out of its sheath and severely cut David. Gasping in horror, Charlotte broke a vase over Ben's head and knocked him out.

In the morning, Ben was taken into Spooky Hollow in a caged wagon and presented to the Sheriff. David told the sheriff about how Ben had gone crazy and attacked him with his butcher's knife. Ben tried to explain that Charlotte was his lover and that the cut was an accident, but the Sheriff and Mayor decided that Ben was a threat to their society and ordered him to be placed in the old Insane Asylum outside town.

(Continued at book 2)