(This is going to be a sequel to Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. Set in the present day, some 50+ years since the demise of Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show, it will mainly focus on the carousel in that story. It will more closely follow the description in the book, but may sometimes borrow from the film version when suitable. As should be obvious, I own nothing belonging to the original story- only my own characters and original story line.)

The new building certainly looked impressive. First, it was huge, even for what it was intended for. And second, the style was anything but modern. The materials and the way it was constructed was something straight out of the late nineteenth century. One just didn't see this kind of craftsmanship much anymore, primarily because there was little demand for it. Certainly there was nothing else quite like it in Green Town, Illinois. Not any more, anyway. Oh, the town had its fair share of older houses and buildings, brick and mortar, wood and stone. But the old had promptly given way to new in the past four, five decades just as it had in many other such places all over America. And ironically enough, this time the old had been replaced with something that looked old, but was actually brand new.

It was a perfect blend of wood and brick, mortar and steel, and despite the old-fashioned look and feel, it was completely up-to-date inside. It had to be, in order to protect the monstrous "treasure" it held inside- and that item was indeed old.

Karen Swanson walked up and admired the building. This was the first time since its completion she'd seen it. She'd visited the construction site as often as her schedule allowed, but between her regular job as a real estate agent and her busy volunteer work during the restoration, it wasn't all that much. Karen was eager to see how her- and the other restorers'- work had paid off. It had been a labor of love, lasting a little more than three years, which actually was very quick for the scale of work that normally would need to be done.

The old carousel had been discovered in a weed-infested field that was county property but sat unused for decades. The last use that area had seen was when it was utilized by a traveling carnival several decades ago, and for whatever reason they had abandoned their carousel when they left town. Perhaps it was because it didn't work any more, for its control box and machinery had been smashed. But that made little sense: if it was an act of vandalism, the vandals would have damaged more than just the controls; yet the ride was in nearly pristine condition other than some worn paint and dull brass here and there. And surely the carnival people wouldn't destroy the mechanism to one of their own rides, even if they planned on abandoning it for whatever reason? There was simply no logical reason to do so. Unless...unless there was some danger posed by this ride, and whoever had smashed its controls did so in hopes of preventing another accident. Maybe someone had gotten hurt? Killed, even?

It wasn't as strange as it sounded. Merry-go-rounds, as benign as they may seem, have in fact been one of the most dangerous amusement rides in history. More people have been injured on them than on roller coasters and other thrill rides. This is mainly due to people letting their guard down. Also because many years ago, carousels rarely had safety features such as seat belts to keep riders from falling off (especially when reaching for the brass ring), and rules were much more lax. Patrons were often allowed to stand or walk around on the platform while it was in motion, and might get injured by a wooden hoof or head on a "jumping" horse if they didn't watch out. Sometimes riders would goof off, sitting backwards in the saddle, or putting their feet on their horses' heads. There were even horror stories of workers being dragged into the machinery of moving carousels as well. Who knows what the backstory on this one might be?

It may have been a long time ago, but there were still those who knew, those who remembered. And some of them reveled in it while others reviled it. And once again, their worlds would collide.