Figure 1 – The Troglodyte,IPhone photograph, (c) DE Wolf 2015.

A troglodyte is  a cave dweller, one who lives in a cave.  But the word has come to take on further and more sinister meanings.  The troglodyte is one who spends his days half-human toiling beneath the Earth.  So much for the happy seven dwarfs.  But more sinister still are the troglodyte Morlocks in H. G. Wells’ Time Machine.  These creatures, descended from humans in the year AD 802,701, live underground, tend machinery, and provide, clothing, and infrastructure for the childlike race of Eloi. Sinister? Well, yes.  The Morlocks eat the Eloi for food.  Shutter.

It was with these thoughts that I like Orpheus descended yesterday into the cave that we refer to as the mall parking garage.  I was intrigued by an intense and eery light that illuminated a foam covered joist with harsh contrast.  I looked up and there it was – not quite human, a specter, Morlock, or troglodyte.  I could not be certain but did manage to take his photograph (Figure 1).