Hangman’s Noose

The Hangman’s Noose is a scary poem about a dead man who vows to get revenge on his executioner.

The Hangman’s Noose

They hanged John Farrell till he was dead
At dawn in the marketplace;
At dusk the Hangman walked up to him
And spat upon his face.

“Just take a look,” the Hangman cried,
“Behold, John Farrell’s fate!
“It’s proven here the hangman’s noose
Is stronger than man’s hate!

For you all heard John Farrell’s vow
To take revenge on me.
But now in death, see how he hangs
high on the gallows tree!”

Yet never a word the people spoke,
in fear and shocked surprise,
For the grisly corpse raised up his head
And stared with sightless eyes.

And with strange motions, slow and stiff,
He pointed and the crowd did gasp
As he clambered down the gallows tree,
the noose clutched in his grasp.

With his mouth agape, the Hangman stood
like a statue made of stone,
Till the dead man laid a clammy hand
hard on his shoulder bone.

The Hangman shrieked like a soul in hell;
The blood drained from his face
He turned and ran, in fear of his life
through the screaming marketplace;

And close behind, the dead man came,
His face a seething, pallid mask,
The dead arms cracked and stiff legs creaked
As they performed their final task.

The townsfolk fled from the fearsome sight
And they hid and held their breath,
For they saw the terror in the Hangman’s eyes
As he was singled out by death.

He tripped and fell, got up again,
And on and on he fled;
So through the empty marketplace,
The dying man fled the dead.

At the river’s bank, the Hangman fell
with a scream that rent the skies;
Across him fell John Farrell’s corpse,
Never again to rise.

The Hangman’s body bore no wounds,
But his brow was cold and damp.
The fear of death snuffed out his life
Like the wind blows out a lamp.

Upon his lips, a horrid grin.
His eyes were black as coals.
The men that saw his face that day,
Say the sight still haunts their souls.

The Hangman found such a fitting end,
a strange, unearthly fate;
For stronger than death or a hangman’s noose
Is the force of a dead man’s hate.