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Devil in the Cornfield: An American Horror in Cutchogue
In the summer of 1854, a quiet farmhouse in Cutchogue, Long Island became the center of one of the most brutal crimes the North Fork has ever known.
Nicholas Behan was supposed to leave town.
He packed his trunk.
He checked it at the station.
Then he turned back.
Just after midnight, he slipped through a kitchen window, calmed the family dog, and climbed the stairs carrying a pole axe. What followed was a savage attack that left two respected members of the Wickham family dead, a fourteen year old boy mutilated but alive, and an entire region gripped by fear.
Two housemaids escaped barefoot through an attic window, bleeding as they ran for help. By dawn, lanterns filled the fields, bloodstained footprints led into the marsh, and a manhunt unlike anything Long Island had seen was underway.
The Devil in the Cornfield is a meticulously researched true crime narrative that reconstructs the crime, the chase, and the chilling psychology behind it using period accounts, court testimony, and contemporary reporting. This is not folklore. This is not legend.
This is history exactly as it happened.
If you are drawn to forgotten American crimes, early forensic investigation, and the raw human stories buried beneath quiet farmland, this book will stay with you long after the final page.
This is for readers who feel pulled toward the darker corners of history and want the truth, not a sanitized retelling.
Nicholas Behan was supposed to leave town.
He packed his trunk.
He checked it at the station.
Then he turned back.
Just after midnight, he slipped through a kitchen window, calmed the family dog, and climbed the stairs carrying a pole axe. What followed was a savage attack that left two respected members of the Wickham family dead, a fourteen year old boy mutilated but alive, and an entire region gripped by fear.
Two housemaids escaped barefoot through an attic window, bleeding as they ran for help. By dawn, lanterns filled the fields, bloodstained footprints led into the marsh, and a manhunt unlike anything Long Island had seen was underway.
The Devil in the Cornfield is a meticulously researched true crime narrative that reconstructs the crime, the chase, and the chilling psychology behind it using period accounts, court testimony, and contemporary reporting. This is not folklore. This is not legend.
This is history exactly as it happened.
If you are drawn to forgotten American crimes, early forensic investigation, and the raw human stories buried beneath quiet farmland, this book will stay with you long after the final page.
This is for readers who feel pulled toward the darker corners of history and want the truth, not a sanitized retelling.
83 pages, Hardcover
Published December 13, 2025
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