I’m looking for an old horror story that I once read. Search engines give me too many false hits. I may get some of the details wrong. If you are able to link to the story or just provide the title, I will be grateful.
The story features a pious man who is beloved in his community, although some consider him to be a bit prudish. He lives in a village in which the children talk about a boogeyman called The Hook. The Hook used to actually exist, and was a highwayman who would use a hook to drag travelers off of their horses so that he could kill them, take their possessions and eat their flesh.
The pious man doesn’t like it when children talk about The Hook. In particular, he gets angry when his own children try to scare each other by telling the story. He hardly ever gets angry about anything else at all.
Eventually the children grow up and the man gets old. As he is dying, his children gather around his bed. One of them asks why stories about The Hook were the only thing that could get him upset. With his dying breath, the man admits that he was The Hook.