Authorities are investigating a disturbing case after residents in the John Nobel warren reported finding a pile of mutilated mannequins outside an abandoned dressmaker’s shop on Barrow Street, Level Six. The mannequins, dismembered and arranged in what officers described as a “deliberate and ritualistic” pattern, were discovered early Tuesday morning by a sanitation worker.
“The limbs were all severed at the joints, stacked in a careful spiral,” said Officer Brass, one of the first responders on the scene. “Their faces had been sanded down, and someone had painted eyes on their torsos instead.”
Investigators found no signs of forced entry into the building, which has been vacant for nearly a decade. However, traces of an unknown substance—described as “thick and ochre-colored”—were found near the mannequins, as well as faint indentations in the floorboards inside, as though something heavy had been dragged across them.
Residents in the area reported hearing faint, rhythmic scratching sounds during the early hours of the morning but saw no one outside. One witness, an elderly man living across the street, claimed to have glimpsed movement inside the dressmaker’s shop a few nights prior but assumed it was a trick of the light.
Given the ritualistic nature of the display, the LLA has assumed control of the case. Authorities urge anyone with relevant information to come forward and remind citizens to remain vigilant.