Dark Harvest

Dark Harvest is a 2006 horror novel by Norman Partridge. The book is set in a hamlet where its young men must confront a creature each year in the hopes that they will win a desirable prize. A film adaptation of the novel was released in 2023. Synopsis Plot The novel is set in an unnamed Midwestern hamlet, where each year, all of the young men take part in a yearly ritual in which they hunt a giant pumpkin-headed creature that arises from the corn, known as both "Sawtooth Jack" and the "October Boy". They are tasked with catching the creature before it makes it to the hamlet's church, which it must do before midnight, in order to win the ordeal. Girls are forbidden from participating or being outside during the hunt. The winner of the hunt receives the ability to leave the hamlet – something not otherwise possible – and his family is given a new home, car, and a year free from bills. Winners are frequently idolized, and last year's winner, Jim Shepard, is no exception.