The Creature of Bakinstein

A myth or urban legend about a monster

Thank you to WriterGreg and his chat for peer pressuring me into creating Bakinstein. You are the best beans <3

Yeah, I saw 'em. My sis was sooo scared but I hardly spooked! It was massive! Had to be two or three feet tall at least!

— Gummysburg Child

A rumored creature baked by Victor von Bakinstein, the mysterious amalgam has been seen by children stalking around Gummysburg at night. Although it has never caused physical harm, it is considered the boogeyman of the town and fills the young ones with fright.

Assumed Species: Gingerbreadfolk
Nicknames: The Creature, Gingerbrute, The Amalgam
Origin: Gummysburg

A Misunderstood Fixation

Artist rendering of creature

The Local Rumor Well

Soon after the isolation of Victor von Bakinstein, children began to talk about a giant monster shambling into town to steal candies, baked goods, and other openly available edibles and decorations. This trivial, childhood gossip is often overlooked by the parents and elders of the town, who know monsters like giant gingerbreadfolk do not exist. They began to use the story to scare their children into behaving. If they were naughty, Gingerbrute would get them in the night and take them back to his gummy thicket home.

Adventure parties have gone into the gummy thicket to investigate but no proof of this creature has been found. There are die-hard believers of Gingerbrute who leave it offerings at the edge of the thicket in hopes of drawing it out while others wish to just leave it alone and let it live in peace.

Accusations Against Bakinstein

Alongside the rumors, there were glances in Victor von Bakinstein's direction at the mention of a monster. Bakinstein had been getting dangerously close to necromancy with his evolutions in gummymancy and frosting runes. He had made the townspeople uncomfortable even as a child, but now that he was without supervision they were truly nervous. Bakinstein's home has been searched on numerous occasions but nothing out of the ordinary has been discovered yet.

Bakinstein denies any involvement in the creation of such creatures and has only made appearances in public with a variety of gummy and marzipan golems. Although the marzipan is not entirely welcome, it has been accepted by the gingerbreadfolk as Bakinstein's familiar.

Bakinstein, or the Modern Amalgam - a short story coming to Culinarypunk Halloween 2022.

All images obtained from Pixabay and/or created by Emily Armstrong.