When I was growing up in Highlands there was a Mansion known as the bloody mansion. To get to this home you had to go past Twin Light Towers and follow the small trail from the back of the parking lot lined by the woods. After thirty minutes of navigating the trail you will find the gate house to the mansion. The property is surrounded by a twelve foot stone fence around the entire property. There were gate houses all around the property but the most common one to find was the one from the south as the one to the west went over a cliff the one to the east went into a mountain and the one to the north went to the woods and lake beyond.
The gate houses each had their own history and lore. The gate house to the south would be where invited guests were received. The gate to the west opened to the cliff where you could climb down a steep path that led to the river. This way to the mansion was treacherous an many have went to god on tis path. If you made it from the dock and up the path to the mansion you were very lucky. The gate house to the east and went right into the hill. There was a cave or you had to climb over and many claimed it was like a mountain. Then the final gate house was to the north. It led to the lake and behind the lake the forest which was reported to be haunted.
So how did I come to be at the forest? I received a letter from someone who was connected to the property that said, "I am finally ready to tell the story of the bloody mansion."
I called the phone number on the letter and spoke with Ben the current descendent who owns the property. We made arrangements to meet at the south gate of the property and I arrive early with my recorders, camera, pen and paper in my bag, eager to learn about the mansion. Parking my car outside the gate I got out and used the intercom to buzz the house.
A voice responded with, "I will be with you in a few minutes."
Taking out my camera I started to take pictures from the gate. A few minutes later a young man looking quite ragged came through the gate and said, "Mollie I am so sorry that I took it so long to come and meet you. The house seems to know you are here and they are a bit surprised I let you come here."
"You mean the ghosts?" I asked.
He looked surprised and said, "You know the stories?"
"My Grandpa was Frank," I said. "The gatekeeper back in the eighties."
"Well," He said. "Would you be shocked if his ghost showed up here?"
Chuckling I said, "He still visits at the family home so no it would not shock me. Ben are you alright? You seem like something happened before you came out here."
He sighed and rubbed his temple. Looking at me he said, "Lets walk the walls you may get some pictures for your blog and newspaper article."
We headed to the cliffs as he said, "The last death on the property was the man that replaced Frank after your Grandpa left. Mark had radioed in telling me to stay in the house there was someone trying to come up the west entrance. When I did not hear from him for a while, I called the police and explained the situation. They found Mark's body an hour later. The police think that Mark fell off the cliff."
"What happened today?" I asked.
"I let the spirits in the home know you were coming last night," He said. "The noise they have been creating has been short of chaos, and I had to get them to agree to not hurt you."
"I appreciate that," I said. "However, do not be afraid I am used to ghosts being buttholes. The ones in my old home think they run the place when they do not."
We went towards the mansion and I asked, "You live here, but the house looks like it needs a facelift."
Sighing, he said, "That is because it does. However, due to the residents in the home, we cannot hire anyone to come in and repair the building."
When he got to the door he said, "Welcome to the famous murder mansion."
We walked into the entryway of the mansion and he directed me to the door on the left. Going into the first sitting room he pointed to the chairs next to the fire and he gave me a smile. "I appreciate you coming here to interview me. There was a reason that I offered to let you come here to interview me and it is not a good reason."
"Oh," I said. "Should I be worried about becoming the next murder victim?"
"God no," He said. "I am dying. Frank always told me his granddaughter had an eye and ear for the paranormal, but you were so young when he worked here, he did not want to bring you here."
"Ben what can I do to help you," I asked.
A woman appeared behind him and screamed, "Nothing you harlot, you leave my boy alone and let him die at home in peace."
Before Ben could say anything, I said, "If you are his mother, you are a shit one. I do not have children, but if I did and one of them was sick, I would fight hell itself to save them. You maam are a cranky bitch and do not make me say it again when I say if you raise your voice to me again you will lose yours."
She looked shocked, and Ben asked, "You see my mom?"
Nodding, I said, "I see her as she was yelling at me, and I see more in the shadows."
Nodding, he said, "Well, I would like to offer you something that no one can."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Stay with me till the end," He said. "Be my companion and help me as I cannot have a nurse come here. If you stay here, you will inherit the home and can do whatever you want with it after I die. The Doctors say I have about two years left."
"Is there any chance that you can make it through treatment?" I asked.
"I have been to two doctors, and if you are willing to come with me to my next appointment, we will see what can be done," He said. "You do not have to decide until after coming with me to the next doctor's appointment. You would get paid to stay with me and a place to stay. When I pass, you will get the home and property to do whatever you want with it."
I sat thinking for a while and asked, "Why me?"
"Because Frank and I have read your articles in the paper," He said. "If anyone can do this place justice it's you."
"Okay," I said. "So as your companion what would you expect me to do?"
"Be a friend who is not dead," He said. "Maybe a companion with benefits later on if we form that relationship. The second would not be a deal breaker. During my remaining time we can go through the house and you can learn the stories. Also, four hours a day you will be able to remodel the house, starting with the greenhouse."
I sat thinking about the offer for a few minutes and said, "I will do it. I will have to pack a bag and come back. but we either start with th eattic or down in the basement."
He nodded and said, "You did not think about this for long."
Sighing, I said, "Recently, my boyfriend left me, and I have been sleeping in the guest room of a friend's home. I really do not have much going on at the moment, and I would love to help you. Besides Ben, we can always hope the Doctors are wrong and you will be around for a long time."
"There is more," He said.
"Your quick," I said. "When you first came through the gate I felt a pull to you. Almost as if we are meant to be together either as companions or more. Probably more."
He gave a small smirk and said, "Well, I will look forward to the more."
Chuckling I said, "Will they get mad if you want to come to town?"
His mother went infront of me and said, "No."
Standing up I squared my shoulders and asked, "Do you want him to die?"
"He is sick and its inevitable," She said.
"You think so huh," I said stepping up to her. "Like I said you are a shit Mom."
"You think you can save him?" she said.
"Possibly," I said. "But you need to back down or I will get you out of here. Answer me this how many spirits?"
"Why," She asked.
"I need to know what I am working with," I said. "I am not an ordinary woman, so answer my question how many of them are there."
"563," She answered. "Including myself."
"So be it," I said. "Ben would you like to get a jacket? We are going to grab groceries after this."
"Groceries?" He asked.
"We are implementing a plan to save you," I said. "Fuck what the doctors say. That starts with a diet that can help you."
He gave a small smile and said, "Well, well, Mollie, let's see what you can do to help me."
His Mom turned to him and said, "Ben sweetie do you think this is a good idea?"
"Yes mother I do," He said. "Please do not interfere with Mollie and I. You did enough in my previous ones already."
We loaded ourselves in the golf cart and headed to my car. We loaded in and went to my friends house. On the drive Ben asked, "Why do you not live with your Grandmother?"
Chuckling I said, "Because my parents live with her and I cannot be there with them. They are not good parents."
Gathering my things from my friend's house, I drove to a local grocery store. We loaded our cart with healthy nutritious food along with cleaning supplies and when we went to the checkout out Ben took out his card and said, "Sorry I am the type of guy who pays for it all."
I went to argue and he put a finger to my lips. I said, "Fine for now."
We loaded my car up and headed back to the mansion. We loaded everything in the cart, and when we pulled up to the mansion, his mother came out looking at everything we had. I said to Ben,"I know you wanted to start with the greenhouse, however i think we should start with the attic."
"I am not opposed to that," He said. "May I ask why the attic?"
"Because its the highest room in the house," I said as we carried in the groceries. "It will set a precident for a calm and healthy home."
He said, "I am down with that. What do we do with the items we decide to not keep?"
"Burn or sell," I said. "From what I see, there is a lot of dirt and grime. Most things may not be able to be saved. We will have to see. But I do see some cozy bonfires in our future."
He nodded and said, "Well let me show you to your room. Consider everything in this home yours. We will have the worlds best scavenger hunt. Do you know anyone who will buy possible haunted items?"
"I do," I said. "Let me send them a text and see what they want to do."
He pointed to a door and said, "That is my room. However this is yor room."
He opened the door next to his room. We walked in and he opened the curtains. I said, "This is lovely."
Pointing to a door, he said, "That is the door between our rooms. Do not worry, my mother tries to avoid this wing."
"May I ask why?" I asked.
"It was my Grandparents' wing," He said. "They did not get along well."
Bens stomach growled and I looked at my watch. Chuckling I said, "Well it looks like we are having a late lunch. Is there anything you do not like?"
He said, "I like about everything."
"Panini's it is," I said.
Heading down to the kitchen I took a cast-iron out and placed it on the stove. Ben pointed out the cutting boards and plates. I grabbed the items to make turkey BLT paninis."
He watched as I prepared lunch and he said, "That looks so good."
"What do you normally eat?" I asked.
"Canned goods or frozen dinners," He said.
"Cans are alright if you eat it in moderation," I said. "Same with the frozen food. I did see the items in both the freezer and pantry. Don't worry, we will track what you are eating now and see if this helps you."
Boiling water I made us some green tea to have with our sandwiches. When lunch was ready we sat at the counter and I pointed to Ben to try the Panini."
He took a bite and he said, "It tastes so fresh."
Giving a bog smile I said, "That is what we want."
After we ate I said, "How much water are you drinking each day?"
"Not much," He said.
"We need to change that," I said. "See I can down coffee all day but if I have ice water I am more willing to drink that. Especially if it has lemons or fruit in it. So let me get the water bottles I bought and try that out."
Slicing some lemons I made two containers of lemon water. Handing him his cup, I took mine and said, "Let is go check out the attic."
We climbed the stairs to the attic and when Ben opened the door we heard a voice that said, "Get out."
Sighing I said, "Nope, we are cleaning her out."
Ben put the light on and I saw shadows move in the back of the attic. He said, "There are at least five spirits in this room that I know of."
Sitting down on a chair near the door I asked Ben, "How many rooms are in this house?"
Handing me a list, He said, "One hundred and seven."
Reading the list I said, "Well we will be having a bunch of bonfires. I see a lot of items are so damaged we will not be able to save them. So we will be burning a bit. I see some items I can have my friend pick up. But where would we burn them."
He stood up and put out his hand, "Follow me."
He kept my hand in his and we went down to the sunroom. Opening the door he took me to the patio outside. There was a massive fire pit. He said, "This should work right?"
Nodding I said, "This is perfect. Shall we get to work?"
He said, "Lets start."
We went back to the attic and when we went in an elderly lady appeared to us and said, "You are going to destroy us."
Sitting down, I pointed to a chair and asked, "Why have you not moved on? Do you not want me to save Ben?"
She looked at Ben and stroked his cheek. She said, "Yes I want him saved. If you can do that I will be very happy."
"What is your name?" I asked.
Ben said, "This is my great aunt Ester. She was my Dad's Aunt."
A man appeared next to her and said, "If you think you can prolong Ben's life we will gladly move on. My name is Sammy. I am Esther's husband."
"Have you tried to move on?" I asked.
"Yes," Sammy said. "Something is keeping us here. So if you find it, please burn it so we can be set free."
"Will you know when we find it?" Ben asked.
"Yes," He said.
Nodding I said, "Ben I think your mom is involved. She seems very intent on keeping you here and your passing."
He sighed and said, "She was always obssessed with death and staying in the home. She appeared next to her body within an hour of passing away."
"Well I will know when we find an item that is attached to one of the 553 of you," I said.
Ben asked, "How will you know?"
"It will glow for me," I said. "It is a gift of mine, and I can see things that have attachments. But here is the thing, the house seems to have a lot of dirt, mold and grime which could be kicking your ass Ben. This home could be making you physically ill. We need to fix that so whoever is in here get ready for the party."
I took out a speaker and hooked my phone to it and started playing some classic rock. Taking out a garbage bag and pulling a crate aside I said, "Well Ben you ready to start."
The lights flickered and he said, "Sure am."
I walked with him around the attic and we opened all of the curtains. Light flooded the room and Ester said, "Wow this is something."
Ben and I started with the crate closest to the door. Opening the crate we started the sorting job and filled the first bag with all th molded clothig in the crate. When we got to the bottom of the crate I found a journal and it was glowing. Looking inside it said, property of Mabel Sue.
Looking at Ester I asked, "Who is Mabel Sue?"
A young girl came out and said, "I am mabel sue. please can you plan to burn that tonight? I want to cross over, and it needs to be ash for me to go."
I said, "Burn baby burn. I will get enough things ready to burn so we can cross you over."
I dragged the first garbage bag down to the fire pit and placed the items ready to burn inside, and covered it with the lid again. Ben and I worked until dinner and we had not filled the fire pit enough. Mabel said, "I understand its not ready yet and when its time for me to go I want no oopses. I am happy it is almost time."
Ben and I went to the kitchen and I made fresh soup and wraps. While we ate Ben said, "I can feel a difference with you being here. If this works and my death sentence ends, do you think we could keep a relationship?"
Looking at him, I said, "Yes, I think we could."
After we finished dinner, I asked, "What do you normally do now?"
"Go to the library and listen to my mother drone on."
"Well why don't we change that up a bit. Why don't you go shower and join me in my suite and we will watch a movie."
"What will you do?"
"I am going to shower as well and will open the door when I get out."
We both showered and when we were done we lay down and started watching a movie in my room. We both fell asleep and we both fell into a deep sleep.
OCTOBER 1ST
We both woke up looking at each other and I said, "Good morning how did you sleep?"
He streched and said, "I will be honest with you last night was the best sleep I had in a long time."
Smiling I said, "I slept pretty well also. So let us get ready for our day and start the first official day of saving you."
We both cimbed out of bed and stretched. I sipped my water and he picked up his bottle and drank. He said, "There is still ice in it."
"Yes there is," I said. "I'm glad you have an ice maker. Makes drinking a whole lot better."
He said, "I think drinking water is going to be a big thing with my healing."
Grabbing clothes, I said, "Bring down a jacket as we will be going outside after breakfast."
Ben went into his room and shut the door to get ready. I finished dressing and walked down to the kitchen. His mother was sitting in the kitchen and when I arrived, she went to start screaming as I said, 'If you start yelling, I will silence you for a week. You are not going to harm anyone else anymore."
She saw Mabel's journal in my bag and said, "No. You should not have that."
"I have it and will be releasing Mabel soon. Your control here is over and I will release everyone and save Ben. I am starting to think that the more souls here the stronger you become. I am also thinking that Ben getting sick is your doing. So get ready to start losing your power because I am going to save everyone."
Ben walked in and said, "You think that my Mom is behind this?"
"I believe someone started it before her, and that she continued it."
Ben sat down as I cooked breakfast, "What are we having?"
"Fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and fried rice."
"That sounds good."
We sat and ate. After we ate, I washed the dishes and said to Ben, "Well, grab a jacket, we are going for a walk."
I grabbed the handcart that was left near the front door and pulled it along as we walked in the trees. I placed larger branches in the cart as we walked and we took multiple trips to the burn pit. I said, "We will be adding things to the burn pit. We can help the fire along to get Mabel a place in the afterlife and not be stuck here. We walked for another hour and loaded up even more branches into the burn pit.
When we were done, I asked Ben, "How are you feeling?"
"A little tired," He said. "But I have done more than I normally do on any given day."
"When is your next Doctor's appointment?"
"Its on October 13th."
"Well let's see if we can get you healthier in the next 12 days. So let's get you out of the cooler weather after our walk and go up to my room. I am gonna tear apart my closet and start seeing what can be donated or sold. While I do that, you are gonna climb into the bed and watch me clean until lunch time. You can even grab a book to read if you want."
He grabbed a book out of the library, and I looked at the cover and said, "Ben, do you realize that the book is covered in mold?"
He looked at the book and shook his head as he said, "I didn't realize that."
Opening the library door I saw books in various stages of mold, grime and readability. I walked in and grabbed a few books for Ben, handing them to him. I said, "These bad boys are safe."
Shaking his head, he asked, "It is like I have blinders on."
"More like a certain ghost is trying to manipulate the room."
Nodding he said, "Okay I will have to be careful."
We went up to my room and I went into the closet. Taking out the first stack of clothes, I laid them on a table and started going through them. Ben lay reading and I worked through my closet. I decided to keep a few pieces, packed a few items away for sale, and filled two garbage bag with clothes that needed to be burned. I ran the two bags down to the firepit before my lunch alarm went off. Looking at Ben he had dozed off. I went downstairs and made a quick stirfry with noodles and brought up two bowls to my room. I shook ben and he opened his eyes.
He smiled and said, "I think I over did it."
"Well it is good to know what your limits are."
He looked at the food and said, "I have not had homemade chinese in forever."
Smiling, I said, "Eat up."
Watching him eat I said, "While we are upstairs I am going to air out our rooms by opening the windows. I am also going to open a few windows in the attic. You are gonna sit in a chair that is not falling apart or moldy."
563 Ghosts Oct 13
Mollie+ Main
Ben- Homeowner
Frank- Grandpa
List of ghosts waiting:
- Bens Mother
- great aunt Ester
- Sammy- Ester's husband
Rooms:
- attic 3/100
- basement
- bens room
- bens bathroom
- bens wardrobe
- bens closet
- mollies room
- mollies bathroom
- mollies wardrobe
- mollies closet 5/100
- bedroom 1 3rd floor
- bedroom 2 3rd foor
- bedroom 3 3rd floor
- bathroom 3rd floor
- sitting room 3rd floor
- smoking room 3rd floor
- kitchen
- pantry
- butlers pantry
- 3rd floor landing
- office
- office closet
- laundry room
- laundry room closet
- breakfast room
- breakfast room closet
- formal dining room
- formal dining room closet
- ball room
- ballroom storage
- ballroom stage
- greenhouse
- greenhouse storage
- billiards room
- summer kitchen
- summer dining room
- summer dining room closet
- 3rd floor storage
- garage 1
- garage 2
- security room
- security room closet
- lounge
- lounge closet
- mens lounge
- men's lounge closet
- sewing room
- sewing room storage
- Butlers room
- Butlers closet
- butlers bathroom
- Maids room
- maids closet
- maids bathroom
- Ben's mom's room
- Ben's mom's wardrobe
- Ben's mom's bathroom
- Ben's mom's closet
- bens dad room
- bens dad wardrobe
- bens dad bathroom
- bens dad closet
- hunting room
- hunting room closet
- Ladies library
- ladies' library closet
- mens library
- men's library closet
- Coat room
- Second floor sitting room
- Second floor sitting room closet
- third floor music room
- third floor music room closet
- Hall closet 3rd floor
- hall closet 2nd floor
- 2nd bathroom 3rd floor
- second 2nd floor bathroom
- Television room
- Sunroom
- Sunroom garage
- detached garage
- detached garage bathroom
- Garage
- garage bathroom
- hallway to detached garage
- living room abve detached garage
- bathroom in apartment detached garage
- bedroom 1 detached garage
- closet bedroom 1 detached garage
- bedroom 2 detached garage
- closet bedroom 2 detached garage
- storage closet, detached garage apartment
- movie room
- movie room kitchen
- movie room storage
- storage room 1st floor
- storage room 2nd floor
- bathroom 1 first floor
- bathroom 2 first floor
- kitchen bathroom
- bowling alley
- bowling alley kitchen
- bowling alley bathroom
- womand office second floor
- womans office bathroom
- servants office
- servants lounge
- Burn pit patio
- gate 1
- gate 2
- gate 3
- gate 4
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