The signs that It was returning existed for decades. The fatal attack of a pregnant black woman; the husband and wife trapped in a cave after a freakish accident; the disappearance of a young boy after the brutal murder of his parents; the rumors of missing transients who entered the valley; the outbreaks of mutilated cattle; the terror that hunting dogs and all domestic animals exhibited when they drew near to the place. There were signs. But only a few took them seriously.

There was an old Lenni Lenape legend of a Beast that dreamed an army of monsters and brought them into existence, but was anyone supposed to believe that? It was 1969. No one took ancient myths seriously. No one believed in that stuff anymore - or, at least, no one with any sense would admit that they believed it. The people of Sussex County, New Jersey lived in a sparsely populated area occupied by dairy farmers and horse breeders. But they weren't uneducated and they weren't fools. They were intelligent, hard-working people.

And then It was there. And the killing began.