My family has been growing corn since the 1850s, but never have we had a yield set to be this low before. Over the course of a couple months, nearly a third of my crops have died out. Today, Rufus and I were going to find out why. --- Well, we found out why. We drove out to the area of the field that was filled with dead crops and started walking around. Rufus barked and what we saw... I still can't explain. A stalk of corn that was so full of life one moment was seemingly drained in the next, turned thin and grey, and fell to the ground. Something rustled deeper into the corn. Rufus and I were hot on its tail. Rufus ran ahead and started attacking at what looked to me like a *blanket* of all things. The blanket didn't tear, however, and Rufus gave a yelp as roots or tentacles or something started surrounding him. I ripped Rufus free and saw that the roots seemed to be coming *from* the blanket! I shot the blanket thing with pa's 12-gauge. The thing started to chase us, dragging across the ground, and we ran back to the truck. When we made it back to the house, Maria asked me what's wrong, and I told her to call Deputy Stewart. He said he'll come down tomorrow morning.