The Manhunter

In 2008, Officer (REDACTED) of the (REDACTED) Police Department and a cryptid hunter who wishes to remain anonymous, posted an article about a predatory creature they dubbed The Manhunter, which they believed to be responsible for various killings around the (REDACTED) area. It was eventually deleted, and somewhat lost to time. This is a repost of their findings.
"The Manhunter, as we have named it, is a humanoid cryptid that displays stalking and predatory behavior. Every few years, it will select a human target, and begin to stalk them. We don't know how it chooses its targets, but once it has selected one, it will watch them from afar during a 2-month period, before actively hunting and eventually killing them. All victims shared similar characteristics, the entire body would be covered with scratches, the torso would be ripped open, and various organs would be missing. Later studies have shown that the victims were fully alive and conscious while the organs were being removed, and either died of blood loss hours later or organ failure, after important organs such as the liver were removed."
Editor's Note: The reason for this macabre behavior was never found. There are several theories circulating amongst the small community that know of The Manhunter that try to explain this. Some believe it can only eat certain flesh from the body, others believe that it's a demon that feeds off pain. There is not enough information on the matter to prove or disprove any of these theories. 
"The Manhunter resembles a tall, gaunt human male. The skin appears to be made of a black, veil-like substance. The face sports a large, gaping mouth, but is otherwise featureless. The right arm ends in a deformed stump halfway down the forearm, and a flashlight of some description appears to be grafted onto the end. Its beam, according to witness reports, is always on and is extremely bright, and turns a shade of purple when shining on its target. The cause of this is unknown. While usually walking in a bipedal stance, The Manhunter has been known to run on three limbs, keeping its flashlight arm crooked underneath its body. Apart from the slight hum of its flashlight, it is a completely silent creature."
Editor's Note: The last sentence has been proven false. A witness report from 2013 specifically detailed The Manhunter breathing, quote: "I tried to stay as still as possible. The only sound was its heavy breathing as it reached up to my brother's bunk." While on the topic of sounds, according to a community post from 2017, the flashlight's hum becomes a painful ringing sound when the beam turns purple. 
"As detailed before, The Manhunter will stalk its target for exactly two months before killing them. During this period, it will deliberately create noise to disturb its target, appear in their peripheral vision, and hide objects around their home. Presumably the stalking aspect is to gain information on its target, but there is no confirmed reason for the noise making and kleptomania." 
Editor's Note: Kleptomania is an addiction to stealing things, presumably describing The Manhunter's object-hiding. There are a few theories on the matter, stating that The Manhunter tries to gaslight its target to make them easier prey. Killing someone is one thing, but killing someone who's on edge and thinks they're going insane is another matter. Its behaviour of appearing in its target's periphery and disappearing also supports this.
These three paragraphs are the only surviving parts of the original post. However, since then, The Manhunter has gained a small community dedicated to trying to find it. However, they are very secretive and have no real fanbase, only finding their home on obscure blogging sites, which, like the original post, have been lost to time. Almost nothing is known about the community, apart from their name: M4NHUNTR. 
There is no known way to escape The Manhunter, all of its targets wind up dead. So if you think you've seen something out of the corner of your eye...
You might just be the next target.
Category:Monsters