Deranged

1

My name is Tom Sims.

I'm a newspaper columnist.

Several years ago I covered firsthand

the incredible story you are about to see

re-created in this motion picture.

It is a human horror story

of ghastly proportions and...

profound reverberations.

But because it is human,

perhaps we can learn something from it.

Something of ourselves...

of our own fears and needs.

But please, let me warn you...

The events have been

re-created in detail.

Nothing has been left

to the imagination.

It is not a story

for the squeamish

or the faint-hearted.

Now that you stand warned,

we can proceed with our story.

It is the story of Ezra Cobb:

murderer, grave robber,

necrophiliac perhaps,

or, as you may remember him

from those stories of long ago,

the Butcher of Woodside.

'When Ez was 10,

his father died.

'For the next 15 years,

'Ez and his mother worked

the farm by themselves,

'growing more dependent on each other

with the passage of time.

'Then Amanda Cobb suffered

a paralysing stroke

'which crippled her body

from the waist down

'and left her bedridden.

'Ez brought her downstairs,

'sealing off the upstairs room,

so he could be closer to her.

'For 12 years,

he slept outside her door,

'waiting on her, feeding her,

bathing her,

'reading to her, comforting her.

'To his neighbours,

he was a devoted son.

'But that devotion masked

a growing psychosis

'which came to the surface

when his mother died.'

Mama?

Brought you some soup, Mama.

It's good and hot today.

Ez?

Take my hand.

Are you holding my hand?

Yes.

I can't feel you.

Cold. Must be... draughts.

Just got to get the circulation

going again, that's all.

So it's to be now, then, is it?

I can't see you too clearly, Ez.

You look blurred.

You're... you're tired, Mama, is all.

- Here, I brought you some soup.

- No.

- Good and hot.

- No.

I'm not tired,

and I don't want no soup.

- I'm dying.

- No, Mama.

I'm dying,

and that's all there is to it.

No'm. You just need

some rest is all.

Now, you be quiet

and listen to me.

If I go into a coma,

don't take me to no hospital.

I want to die in my own bed,

my own room,

with you here.

If you need any help later,

after I'm gone,

call Maureen Selby.

Say it now, Ez. Maureen Selby.

Mau...

Maureen... Selby.

Maureen's the only woman

I ever did trust.

She's fat, that's why. A big heifer.

But she's the only

good-hearted woman I ever knew.

As for the rest of them,

they're a lot of filthy,

black-souled sluts

with pus-filled sores that...

Ez?

Ez!

I...

I... I c-can't br-breathe.

You're gonna be all right.

You just need...

something to eat, that's all.

Honest!

I know I'm...

I'm leaving you now.

And that's for certain.

I don't want to leave

worrying about you.

Oh, you're such

a babe in the woods, a child.

I sheltered you too much, I guess.

But I just know

some money-stealing b*tch

is gonna come along

and try to take advantage of you.

Remember what I've always told you.

The wages of sin is gonorrhoea,

syphilis and death!

They'll use their bodies to...

to steal from you.

They'll steal your life and your soul.

Leave 'em alone.

Most of 'em are filled

with diseases that tick.

God will wash them away...

like he did in the time of Noah.

God looked upon the earth,

and behold, it was corrupt,

for all flesh had corrupted

his way upon the earth.

Then God said unto Noah,

"The end of all flesh

is come before me."

Do you know what God

did then, Ez?

Yes'm. The flood.

Yes, sir... the flood.

Oh, I wish I could

be here to see it.

You're still a handsome

young man, Ez.

You'll have great attraction

for the opposite sex.

That's why you gotta be so careful.

Oh, Ez... it hurts.

Hurts.

Eat.

You'll be all right, honest.

No, you won't die, honest.

Please, Mama.

Please, Mama, don't leave me.

Mama, no, please.

No, please. No.

Mama, Mama.

Mama...

How you holding up, Ez?

We're so sorry, Ez.

She was a great lady, Ez.

Real...

Real demure.

Real religious.

The boys wanted to come, Ez, but...

Well, I didn't think they should.

But they do send

their condolences, though.

She looks nice, Ez.

Real natural.

You'd think

she was just sleeping.

She is.

That's all it is.

Just sleep.

Shh.

A month passed.

Six months. A year.

Still Ezra refused to accept

the death of his mother.

He visited her grave

as often as four or five times a week.

And at home...

'At home he continued

as though she were only away on a trip.

'He kept her room neat and clean

'and made sure

the stove was always going,

'so it would be warm

when she returned to him.

'He dreamed about her,

'and in his despair

even wrote letters to her.

'To the outside world,

Ez was, oh, a little eccentric maybe,

'but basically a normal, decent guy.

'He quit farming altogether

'and hired on as a general

handyman for his neighbours

'and especially his good friend

Harlan Kootz.'

Bobby, come on.

It's time to go.

OK, Mum. Bye.

'But the loneliness within him

had grown to a vast abyss,

'and the pain of his loss at last

pushed him over the precipice

'and into madness.'

Mama.

When you comin' home again?

I'm real lonesome, Mama.

There's nothing

but snow and snow and snow.

And the wind blowing

and blowing and blowing.

And it's so cold.

And I miss you with all my heart.

Amen.

'If you miss me so much,

why don't you come and bring me home?'

Mama?

'You should be

ashamed of yourself,

'leaving me here

more than a year now.

'I'm all alone

here in the dark.

'Shame, Ez!'

Mama, I wrote to you.

'Don't get no letters here.

'Now, why don't you come

and bring me home?

'Bring me home...

'Bring me home...'

I'm comin', Mama!

'And so he went

to bring her home.

'Perhaps, in his twisted mind

'he imagined she would look

the way she had in life.'

Mama. Mama.

Oh.

I'm takin' you home, Mama.

Home.

She's the girl of my dreams

And her fair face beams

She's the sweetheart

of Sigma Chi

What in the hell

do you think you're doing, Ez?

N-nothin', sir.

What do you mean?

Oh, come on.

You know what I mean.

Well, she wanted

to come home, Sheriff.

- She told me she did. Otherwise I...

- Now, look, look, look.

This is a 35-mile-an-hour zone,

and you were going 50

if you were going anything.

Now, let me smell your breath.

Good God!

What in the hell is that?

What have you been drinkin', Ez?

Goddamn!

Nothin', sir, er...

It's just a hog I butchered is all.

Er... I forgot to take it out of the truck.

It kind of got to smellin'.

Jesus Christ, you ain't kiddin'!

I'm gonna let you go this time, Ez,

but don't let it happen again, you hear?

And for Christ's sake,

bury that, will you?

Yes, sir.

I sure will... er, first thing.

No more speeding, you hear?

Yes, sir.

I mean, no, sir.

All right.

I apologise for calling you

a hog, Mama.

Get you in bed.

You need to lie back down.

Fix you up.

You won't even

know yourself, honest.

See your room?

Just like it used to be.

Oh, Mama.

You're in terrible shape.

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