Who Was Ho Ho Moe?

Contrary to popular belief, Ho Ho Moe was not the brainchild of the preeminent poet/recluse, MPF, but a very real psychopath who, in the mid 19th century, perpetrated the once notorious, now forgotten Copse County Killings.  From 1847 to 1860, no fewer than 31 children were found brutally slain by a mysterious, unseen killer, whose only calling card was a dirty bit of fabric, upon which were scrawled the words: Ho Ho Moe is back.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of Ho Ho Moe's final, blood chilling murder. Though the fate of the villain remains unknown, his grim legacy lives on in verse:

Ho Ho Moe

Ho Ho Moe is back
He gets you.  Ho Ho in
and you Moe Ho Ho
an Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho Moe first appeared in the 'Diz-aster Book of Poems' in 1985.  MPF would not publish again, but his obsession with the killer is said to remain a fount of creativity.  Recently, the following sketch surfaced, along with the author's prose imaginings of the events surrounding the murder of young Thomas Grimes:

Sundered from the lower half of his body, the boy, in his final minute of life, watched as his innards slid out onto the bloodstained ground.  The fatal wound, a clean slice directly below the diaphragm, was the sinister work of Ho Ho Moe, who claimed his first victim in nearly three years.  By the time the corpse was discovered on the back acres of Farmer Gleeson's property, the skin and flesh had been devoured, and the lower skeleton dragged many yards from the crime scene and partially buried, presumably by Gleeson's free-roaming bull terrier, Roxie.  Postmortem investigations revealed the boy to be Preacher Grimes' youngest son, Thomas, last seen in Mary Inman's Bake Shoppe, from which he stole a hot cross bun.  Only two weeks past his twelfth birthday, young Thomas had recently been awarded a new bicycle (Copse County's first) for high marks in reading and ciphering.

The preceding work has been reproduced here against the wishes of the artist, who remains secluded in his compound in Ohio.

nwb