Willie, Steve

Abstract “The Water Devil: a Tale of Fact and Fiction” is a mystery about a monster terrorizing the Rock Island area. The ‘Water Devil’ attacks victims near the river, then disappears into the water. The tale follows a young man helping with the investigation of the assaults. Pages are missing from the manuscript, so the story is incomplete. The author is unknown, although the narrator states that he lived in the area during the “gay ‘90s,” and seems to set the story around 1918. This collection...