The Revival Meeting Mystery

The Miskatonic gang investigates mysterious deaths that seem to be following an evangelist's "revival" meetings.

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Summary

While travelling through southern Texas in their motorhome, the Miskatonic gang sees a number of flyers tacked to telephone poles advertising "Reverend Bishop Alamo's Evangelical Revival Meeting". In the first town they see the flyers, the date on them is a month ago. In the second town, the date is three weeks ago, and so on.

In the town of Lufkin, they are stopped by the police and shown a photo. They are told that a terrible murder happened there two weeks ago, and is still unsolved. A sixteen year old boy, Joshua Galloway, was stabbed to death in his own bedroom. Police believe it was the work of Satanist bikers that were recently seen in the area. Coincidentally, the murder took place the same weekend that "Reverend Bishop Alamo's Evangelical Revival Meeting" was in town.

In the next town, Alto, Texas, a seventeen year old girl, Sarah Canright, has been missing for a week. A witness, local artist Linda Rivera, described a demonic figure who picked Sarah up, tore her in half, and threw her in the water. Her belongings and clothing were found on the riverside, but her body was not found. There was no blood found at the scene, although Rivera said that blood poured out of the girl's body when she was torn in half. Police are discounting Ms. Rivera's account as "hysteria".

The Reverend Bishop Alamo is currently in Palestine, Texas. While the Miskatonic gang is in Palestine, a fifteen year old boy, David Job Roy, is abducted. The Miskatonic gang decide that this bears investigation, and they attend that night's revival meeting. The Reverend is a hellfire-and-brimstone, fundamentalist, spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child evangelist. He performs "miracles", healing the sick and telling people that God is watching and protecting them. The Reverend's son Norville is in charge of decorations and the passion play that is presented before each meeting. Norville and a group of young volunteers take care of that.

Dusty disguises himself as a wayward youth to infiltrate the Revival's youth ministry, while D.J. prowls the town looking for clues from the police and the local newspaper, the Palestine Progress.

Retracing Their Steps

Meanwhile, Connie and Hideyori drive back to Alto to investigate the death of Sarah Canright. They first talk to Linda Rivera, the artist. They learn that Ms. Rivera walked along the river every day at that time looking for pieces of broken glass to make into wind chimes, and she often saw young people swimming from the opposite bank. On that morning, she was startled by a scream, and she saw a demonic figure with a long skull face lift the naked girl overhead, tear her in half, and throw her in the river. Then the demonic figure ran into the woods and vanished. All the while, the girl was screaming and screaming. Ms. Rivera ran back to her trailer and called the police, but they did not believe her. They did, however, find the girl's folded clothing on the opposite bank of the river. Hideyori and Connie drive around to the far side of the river to investigate. The only interesting thing they find is a wad of tissue, painted beige, stuck on a low-hanging branch not far from where the girl's clothing was found.

They then go to visit the parents of Sarah Canright. Sarah's mother answers the door. Her mother is dressed very plainly, and the house is full of bibles, paintings of Jesus, and other Christian paraphenalia. She shows them Sarah's room, which is Spartan at best, where Connie surreptitiously finds glamour magazines under the mattress and a pair of handcuffs hanging from the large metal radiator. Sarah's mother laments her daughter's disappearance, but says she is relieved that Sarah has been "taken home" before she could be led astray by "bad influences". Apparently, Sarah had been a rebellious child, and her parents feared for her soul. They had tried to "pray the wickedness out of her", but were afraid that their faith might not be strong enough. Sarah's mother is happy that her daughter has gone to a better place, away from the temptations of the world.

Before they leave, Sarah's mother shows them the most recent photo of Sarah: a family photo taken when the girl was twelve. At the time the photo was taken, she was a red-headed girl with buck teeth, whose smile is a stark contrast to the dour expressions worn by her parents in the photo.

Connie and Hideyori then drive back to Lufkin, to investigate the death of Joshua Galloway. They speak to some neighborhood children, who tell them that Jacob's parents are strict Pentecostal Christians, who do not believe in women wearing pants or wearing makeup. They did not allow their son Joshua to listen to music of any kind, and had recently beaten him savagely after finding an 8-track tape of Neil Diamond in his room -- he so was badly injured that he missed several days of school.

Investigative Journalism

Back at the Palestine Progress, D.J. is given a teletype of the police report from Lufkin. Joshua's shirt was found in his room, stabbed thirteen times, and blood was everywhere. Upside down crosses and five-pointed stars were drawn on the walls in blood, in addition to a Bible verse: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." The boy's body was not found.

After a county-wide manhunt, David Job Roy's remains are found in an abandoned salt mine south of town. D.J. is given a ride to the salt mine by a local deputy. Teeth and blood are found at the scene, along with the boy's bloody clothing. The police assume that his remains were thrown into one of the many crevices that are found throughout the salt mines. However, D.J. finds a trail of small blood spots leading into the salt mine, and he shares this observation with the Texas Ranger on the scene.

The boy's teeth are not able to be identified, because his parents are members of the Followers Of Christ church, and do not believe in medicine: he has never been to a dentist. D.J. learns that several weeks earlier, David had passed out in school, and the school nurse determined that he was probably diabetic. His parents refused all treatment, preferring to depend on prayer. It was for this reason that they and he had attended the Reverend Alamo's revival meeting on the evening before his disappearance.

Undercover Work

While Connie, Hideyori, and D.J. are following up their respective leads, Dusty joins the youth ministry group at the revival tent. He soon ingratiates himself by the most reliable of all means: he's useful and pleasant. He spends most of the day with red-headed girl named Veronica, who is also new to the revival crew. He is introduced to the son of the Reverend, Norville Alamo, who is the youth minister for the revival. Norville seems a bit creepy, and a bit antisocial considering his role. Nonetheless, Norville appears to be a fair taskmaster to the teens under his care, and he makes a point of making sure that none of the teens take advantage of each other or get into any trouble.

Later, after the revival crew has all gone to bed, Dusty investigates the trailers used by the youth ministry to store sets, props, and costumes. Drawing on his own theatre experience at prep school, he concludes that he could use these supplies to create a papier-mâché "body" that would "bleed" when torn in half. He also finds a strange horse-skull mask that does not seem to fit into any bible story Dusty has ever heard.

People

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  Reverend Bishop Alamo, evangelist
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  Norville Alamo, son of the Reverend
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  Demonicus Rex
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  Linda Rivera, eccentric artist
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  Caulwell Stuben, Texas Ranger