Dave's Anatomy: My History as a Writer #24: Horror and History: "The Night Witches"

History is a gold-mine for horror. The cruelties and barbarities people have committed against other people rivals anything the most gruesome slasher or splatterpunk author might come up with. We often deplore the massacres and torture chambers of remote eras; but the modern world with its weapons of mass destruction, multiple genocides, and propensity toward perpetuating tribal, racial, and religious conflict rivals the old world. It was this vein of thinking that led me to write "The Night Witches."

Jewish slave labor in World War II

The night witches takes place late in World War II. A Jewish man who has been hauled d from work camp to work camp is finally taken out by three German officers to be killed--with eighteen others. He falls to the ground, hoping to fake his death, but knowing full well that the Germans will check to make sure everyone is dead. As they begin examining bodies, a reconnaissance plane flies by. The frightened Germans take shelter.

After a long while, he determines they have absconded and gets up, the only survivor of the group.  

 He secures as much as he can from his dead comrades and heads into town. The people there are wary but also sympathetic. Two men give him food and tell him he might hide out at an abandoned farmhouse. The Americans are near, they say, and the Germans are on the run. The older man of the two warns him to be careful:  the Night Witches are seen in that particular area. The younger man scoffs and says the older man is superstitious and the refugee should put no stock in his tales.

The man goes there, finds the place indeed abandoned, and rests. In the morning he searches the grounds and finds food. For the first time since he was taken by the Germans and sent to a work camp, he feels he might actually survive the war. But his first night there, he hears noises:  the sounds of swishing, laughter, talk. He goes outside and sees black shapes in the sky blotting out the stars, though he cannot make them out. The laughter and talk grow louder, the swishing sounds nearer.

In desperation he makes a plea to what he assumes are the supernatural creatures called night witches. He appeals for their help: “Sisters of the Night,” I whispered, “have mercy on a wretched man. Protect me from my enemies. I beseech you. If your power can be used for good, preserve me, I pray.” More laughter, then silence. He goes to bed wondering if the night witches heard his prayer. In the morning, he sees that they have not. A group of German soldiers have come to bivouac on the grounds of the farm. A young officer, quite distraught with fear and fatigue threatens him. They are particular worried about aircraft, he says, and asks "Does anything fly around here."

At that moment, the Jew, who still sees a slender hope of survival, notices three German officers who know him—under whom he worked at work camps and who killed his companions and (they thought) him. In response to the cruel irony of his situation, he laughs and says to the other German officer. "Only the night witches." The young officer is startled at his news and questions him further. He does not depart from the script of his humor, saying the night witches fly around here all the time. The young man seems alarmed and hurries over to talk with the three officers who know the Jewish man. They confer, turn, and order the soldiers off the property. The three officers do not see the man they certainly would have killed if they had laid eyes on him. The Americans show up and rescue him the next day.

Russian Women Pilots--"Night Witches"

Later, he finds out his salvation lay in the phrase "night witches." The locals meant supernatural creatures. The Germans used the term to refer to Russian women pilots who flew missions at night, bombing German encampments. They flew ancient biplanes that maneuvered well and often cut their engines and glided as they bombed and strafed the soldiers ("I can hear them swishing," he told the soldier). The Germans officer thought he was referring to the Russian women bombers, not to supernatural beings, and retreated 

immediately from the farm rather than risk being bombed by the night witches.

I've written stories about other horrific historical scenarios. It is a sad and bitterly ironic fact that we don't always need to make up horrors for our stories. They are all about us in abundance. Just pick up a history book; or turn on the news.

"The Night Witches" was published in an anthology that is now out of print. It's a great story, though, and eventually I may try to get it out as a reprint.

A new book, Le Cafe de la Mort, is available for pre-order at Amazon. Lady Death from Sandman would really like this book and I think you might like it as well.  

 For more titles take a look at my Writer's Page.