The Thornwood Beast

From publisher blurb:

The Thornwood Beast keeps the people in check. No one ventures into the nearby wood, because the Thornwood Beast will grind their bones into flour and then eat them. Some villagers claim to have seen it at night, prowling the edge of its territory, but their descriptions are vague and contradictory. Some tell stories of an evil Beast bent on their destruction, while others tell of the terrors even deeper in the wood and how the Beast bars the path in both directions.