The Hanging Stranger
04/01/2021
Digital from my 3D work
Originally a life size stuffed hessian figure suspended in a frame
The Hanging Stranger is one of my favourite short stories by Philip K Dick.
The protagonist Ed Loyce is a store owner who is disturbed when he sees a stranger hanging from a lamppost, but finds that other people consider the apparent lynching unremarkable.
He finds evidence that alien insects have taken over the town. He manages to get out of the town and talks to the police commissioner who apparently believes him. After the Police commissioner obtains all the information about what Ed Loyce knows he explains the body was hung there by the insects to see if anyone reacted to it, anyone they didn't have control over.
The police commissioner then takes Ed outside and hangs him from a lamp post