Ravenfell Chronicles- "The Legend of Ravenfell Manor"
By: Brand J. Alexander
It was a secret kept so well that no one alive knew of its existence. Those who lived within the small farming community had never heard of a place called Ravenfell Manor. There was no reason anyone should have, for it had not been standing or even spoken of in almost two hundred years. But the memory of that dark forgotten place had been biding its time and building in power for nearly two centuries and it was ready to rise again.
Long before this sleepy little community came into being, the land for as far as the eye could see was cornfields and a few small secluded farmhouses. Yet, nestled amidst the fields in a small copse of dark tangled woods stood a foreboding manor house quite different from any other.
Few knew of its existence, though some of the farmers in the surrounding area whispered of its inhabitants. The Ravenfells were a reclusive family, so no one ever truly knew how many of them lived there or even when they took up residence there to begin with. However, everyone who knew of them claimed that they were practitioners of the Dark Arts.
Harvest time during festivals and market abounded with stories of the beastly horrors witnessed by the farmers who gathered the crops near that ghastly abode. And there were some years when a few unfortunate farm hands never returned at all. At first no one dared to uncover whether the stories were true, but as years passed the proof became difficult to ignore.
Strange terrifying creatures started to roam the lands at night terrorizing the countryside. Rumors held that master Beaumont Ravenfell was at the root of the rampaging fiends. Believed to be a powerful warlock, he was said to conjure demons from the underworld and captured strange and monstrous beasts from distant lands and brought them back to the manor for his collection.
Yet the lord of the manor was not the only one blamed for strange happenings. His wife Lady Katerina Ravenfell was accused of being a sorceress of great prowess who spent her time tending gardens filled with vile plants of unknown origins. She was blamed for the swarms of vermin and insects which claimed the harvests and desecrated acres of land for generations. But like with her husband, her deadliest hobbies had a habit of escaping from the manor grounds.
Occasionally, strange carnivorous weeds and flowers would sprout up in the fields of unsuspecting farmers. Pets and livestock were often the unfortunate victims, but a few of her creations were known to take large children at times. Whether they were seeds simply carried by the wind or were planted with malicious intent no one ever knew for certain. But neither option made it any less lethal. Some even whispered that the mistress raised mysterious pumpkins, which could trap the souls of her victims and twist them into demonic vegetative servants, bound completely to her will for eternity.
Terrified by the endless horrors, the local populace eventually reached a breaking point. They gathered together, like most mobs do, and set the surrounding fields of the manor aflame. It took nearly a week for the inferno to die down. The frightening howling flames where the grove of woods and manor stood burned deathly black, casting a shadow across the horizon even at highest noon, its unquenchable raging force unlike any natural blaze. When it was all finished, nothing remained of the Ravenfells or the darkness they had spawned there.
There was an uncertainty about those who purged the evil though, a fear that perhaps they had not cleansed it from the world completely. But even as some warned of possible vengeance, it was decided that the deed should be erased from memory whether victory or folly. It was done. Nothing could change that or likely stop any reprisal that might be coming. So to hide their shame and avert any blame should the Ravenfells return, those who participated swore to never speak of it again, and the history of Ravenfell Manor was lost to the world through the passage of time.
However, on All Hallows Eve, over the years, some people claim to have seen strange things lurking where the manor once stood. Although, no one living knows of the history or the location’s significance any longer. Perhaps if they had remembered, they could have done something to stop it. They could have cautioned against treading those defiled grounds. For the fires so long ago, as those few wise voices feared, did not purge the land entirely of the Ravenfell’s dark magic.
Over the centuries, the evil of the Ravenfells has slumbered, gaining in strength, only ever lightly touching our world when the veil which stands between them and return is weakest on Halloween night. The town now stands where the cornfields once spread endlessly and a housing development has built up around the old property of the Ravenfells. Unfortunately for the inhabitants, one house now stands in the exact center of the ancient forgotten manor. Few families ever make it passed an autumn living in that house and those who live in the neighborhood whisper that it is cursed. Little do they know how right they are.
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