In America's folklore, there lurks a creature that has no body below the waist, and each of it's fingers is tipped with very long and very sharp fingernails. This creature is known as Click Clack, or Click Clack Slide. Its name is based on the sound that this hideous monster makes, using its arms and long, talonlike fingernails to drag itself along the ground. It is always searching for more victims, which it will disembowel with its nails (although killing the victim in other ways isn't out of the question).
It is unknown if Click Clack is merely a restless spirit of the dead or is in fact a revenant of some kind. On one hand, the creature seems to possess a corporeal body, as it actually has to drag itself along the ground to move. Furthermore, Click Clack slashes its victims to death with its nails. This is strongly indicative of a link to the physical world. On the other hand, however, this monster may have some connection to the spirit world in that the creature is said to move much faster than its method of locomotion would suggest. A ghost would be unhindered by any sort of physical handicap, but this creature seems to be. All of the evidence suggests that Click Clack is indeed a revenant, a corpse that has returned from the grave under demonic possession or the body's own restless soul.
Click Clack is described as being the hideous upper torso of a woman's corpse. As one travels further south into Georgia and other southern states, they will find that Click Clack is said to be a man. It is possible that this vile thing leaves a trail of offal and blood as it moves. It is also said that, as mentioned previously, the creature's fingers are tipped with extremely long and clawlike fingernails, with each being a foot or more in length. These nails seem to be very durable in spite of their length, and are easily capable of slicing through human flesh. The monster uses these to move it's body along the hard ground, so they have to be strong to take abuse without breaking (God forbid that this creature gets a hangnail).
There are many different variations of the Click Clack legend. What has proved to be the most enduring and popular of the stories involves a woman and her children. They are all driving along, when her car stalls on the railroad tracks. Then, they are struck by a train. When the emergency units and the police finally arrived, they found the mangled remains of the children. However, they only found the woman's lower body (her legs) and were never able to locate her torso. From that night onwards, people began disappearing in that particular area, leaving the local people to conclude that the woman's vengeful spirit now roams the roads and backroads of the area. She will kill any living person that she comes across on the roads by slashing them into pieces with her extremely long fingernails as revenge for killing her children and herself.
Further south, the legend changes. The people believe that Click Clack isn't a spirit of the dead at all, but is actually a male war veteran who lost his legs during combat. The horrors of war changed the man, driving him to insanity. Now psychotic and deranged, he ventures out at night and kills anyone that he should happen across by ripping open their stomachs with his long fingernails, spilling their bowels onto the earth.
Two different stories, two different creatures. One supernatural, the other mostly human. However, both of these night terrors share the same modus operandi, the same motivation and behavior. The only way for a man to know which one he is hunting is to see the entity for himself.
The legends of Click Clack do not speak of any weaknesses or vulnerabilities that may be exploited. Therefore, assumptions must be made. Dealing with the undead Click Clack will be difficult. The working theory is that this creature is a revenant, but it may also be a ghost. It is best to be prepared for anything. Revenants have certain vulnerabilities. Excision of the heart, decapitation, and completely burning the body are known and very effective ways of killing any reanimated corpse. Burying the creature's ashes in consecrated ground will hopefully prevent any possibility of resurrection.
But what if the creature is a ghost? There are ways of dealing with angry spirits as well. Pure salt (that is, without any additives like iodide and such) or pure sea salt may keep the spirit at bay, as will the presence of iron. Keeping an object made of cold-forged wrought iron on one's person may keep Click Clack from attacking. It may be possible to harm this evil spirit with a iron blade. However, this is based purely on speculation, and shouldn't be tested until the creature's true nature is confirmed.
Another method of permanently ridding oneself of a ghost is to find where the body is buried and unearth it. If the entity is a ghost, both halves of the body should be salted and burned completely. However, if the legs can't be found, then one could try following the creature back to its lair and burning the creature then. One could also try an exorcism or giving the spirit a decent burial. It doesn't hurt to try again if another disposal method fails.
The psychotic war veteran is rather easily dealt with. Because he is still human, he can be killed by firearms and cold sharpened steel. However, the body must be burnt to cinders to prevent the man's tormented spirit from haunting the area. It may be necessary to bury whatever remains of the burnt corpse in consecrated ground, like a churchyard or a cemetery. In the end, one may just turn him over to the police for justice. That's probably the safer alternative.
Sources
Scary for Kids: Click Clack
