Il villaggio del mistero
On the trail of the adventurer with four fingers, Velasquez, Zagor and Chico find themselves deep in the Mississippi delta bayou. Upon arrival, they are mistaken for the murderers of Norah Gordon, the wife of a wealthy landowner. Once the misunderstanding is resolved with Lieutenant Raglan, the duo heads to a strange settlement: Nuova Sulina, a village founded years earlier by Moldavian colonists from Europe.
But what they discover is unsettling, the entire village is abandoned. A caravan of new immigrants, who had come to join their kin, arrives only to find signs of violence and terror, but no living soul. The only body found is that of the community priest, hanging from the church bell tower.
Legends resurface of conquistadors slaughtered by natives centuries ago on this very land. Some warn: the dead must not be disturbed.
While investigating, Zagor confronts Dust and Forge, the true killers of Norah Gordon, and brings them to justice. But the real horror begins at night.
Strange poltergeist phenomena descend upon Nuova Sulina. Terrified colonists witness ghostly occurrences, and the old Moldavian medium Hanu claims to make contact with the tormented spirits haunting the place. In the confusion, Dust and Forge attempt to flee but death finds them in the surrounding woods.
As fear grips everyone, only Zagor dares to face the supernatural. A mysterious well seems to be the source, a gateway to unspeakable horrors. The mystery intensifies until its grim truth is revealed.
The massacre of the village’s original settlers had a human cause, not a spectral one: a savage Cajun tribe, living hidden in the bayou, was behind it. These same Cajuns now launch a new assault on the incoming colonists. Zagor, Chico, and the terrified settlers seek refuge in the church.
There, in a final moment of truth, Hanu channels the spirit of the priest who confesses to having taken his own life out of guilt for not preventing the slaughter. The spectral intervention of the murdered villagers’ spirits briefly halts the Cajuns’ advance, long enough for Lieutenant Raglan’s troops to arrive and stop the attack once and for all.
Thus ends the grim tale of Nuova Sulina, where old world spirits and new world horrors collided.
