Lonely One

The Lonely One is the unseen main antagonist of Ray Bradbury's novella ''The Whole Town's Sleeping. ''

Very little is known about the Lonely One other than they are an enigmatic serial killer who targets only young women and is feared by the whole town, other than this no more information exists with even the character's gender being a mystery.

History
The Lonely One is an unseen yet pivotal character in this story and has murdered at least twelve women by the time of the opening of the story. The Lonely One has gained a large reputation within the town and almost every resident is terrified of their presence. They are constantly brought up towards the three main protagonists of the story within various occasions most notably when a friend of the three named Eliza Ramsell is killed by The Lonely One, when two children are pretending to be the killer and finally when two people appear suspiciously around the three leading to their belief that one of them is the Lonely One.

Later on the character Lavinia Nebbs leaves her friends at their houses and attempts to cross the ravine where the Lonely One targets alone. Their final appearance was when the terrified Lavinia returned home assuming safety only to encounter a person in her living room clearing their throat, she is almost immediately killed by this unseen figure and the story abruptly concludes.