River Shadows

''Beware the Ides of March'

In the late winter of 1960, three women eagerly entered St. Louis Canyon in Starved Rock State Park; they had been promised a reward of breathtaking beauty at the trail's conclusion. The steep path was slippery from former hikers' identations in the old snow making the walk torturous for them. It was the only trail into the canyon; and because of its inaccessibility, it was rarely visited. The path crossed a small frozen stream a number of times over rustic bridges. The walls of the canyon grew exceedingly steep as the women progressed further into it. The rock revetment became narrower and narrower until it widened at the end into a large bulbous-like atrium. The sheer rock walls soared 100 feet above them on three sides. At the top of the canyon, gnarled oak trees were twisted by the wind.

As the ladies reached their destination, their eyes came upon a most magnificent sight. Freezing nights and daytime melting had created a majestic cascade of ice and icicles like a pillar of alabaster holding up a temple roof which looked like the pipes of a mammoth organ. The afternoon sun gave it an iridescent, sapphire blue hue. The women felt as if they were inside a large cathedral. They offered a prayer of thankfulness to the Creator. Then, in their excitement, they spewed forth delightful chatterings which echoed off the canyon walls and were amplified by the cold, still air. One of these women was a camera buff, and she posed her friends one at a time in front of the waterfall.

Preoccupied with their enjoyment in the celebration of life and of nature, they hadn't noticed the arrival of Death. It arrived in the form of a man with a depraved brain which was consumed by lust and by murder in his heart.

It was over in half an hour. As the women sank into the blackness of eternal night, dark clouds extinguished the sun overhead and sent forth a soft falling snow. In a few minutes the precipitation fell heavier and heavier and covered the red blood stains under a blanket of clean, virgin whiteness. The bodies lay quietly in the cave where they had been dragged. As darkness fell, the devil himself could not have created a more macabre sight.