In 1984 an Aurora family was murdered by an unknown assailant with a hammer.
He was never caught.
As a kid growing up near the murder scene (or so we thought, it was about 4 miles away) we were told to make sure the garage door was locked. The monster was supposed to have entered by an unlocked door, so for months we were very careful to keep all doors and windows tightly closed and locked.
In twelve days, Hammer Man had killed a woman in Lakewood and a family in Aurora. Months went by with no one being arrested. The adults soon forgot about it but kids always remember.
That summer we were in the grip of Hammer Man fever. Kids all over the neighborhood speculated who was going to be the next victim. It was a real Nightmare on Elm Street, which came out that same year.
It never faded from memory. Three years later in high school, we would drive past the still abandoned house. It gave us goosebumps even after all that time. Which may be attributed to the pot we smoked at lunch before we drove slowly past, but it was still creepy, knowing a family was murdered with a hammer in that innocuous house on a quiet block, in an unremarkable neighborhood.
Two days ago there was a report on the radio that DNA evidence may implicate a suspect in an unsolved murder from 1984.
My ears perked up and I thought, Hammer Man.
Sure enough, same case.
Hammer Man was a prominent figure in my childhood but I don’t know who to share it with.
My buddy Jeffiepoo is the first one I contacted. He was one of the stoner driveby crew. He said he had just heard about it also.
I texted my sister today.
Me- They caught Hammer Man
Her- What???? No Way
My parents passed two years ago but I doubt Hammer Man had the same effect on them it did the kids that lived through it. Many nights were spent wondering who he was and how we could fight him off when he kicked his way through the garage door, because to be certain, we were next.
I am going to watch what happens with the horror of my youth with a bit of melancholy. Time tends to make memories fade. The past few days brought back great stories of that summer. Young boys and girls huddled together after dark on hot summer nights, speculating and planning about an unseen foe.
They truly were good times.
