User:Elzahn/Drafts/hauntedhouse article

Darkwood Manor is a haunted house attraction in Luray, Virginia, with a fictional backstory. What makes Darkwood Manor unique is the use of detailed sets, talented actors and movie quality make-up to ensure they give their visitors the highest quality scare and interactive experience possible. Darkwood Manor is said to be one of the scariest haunted houses in all of America. Darkwood Manor was started in the late 1990s when its owner Louis Brown found other haunted attractions to be nowhere near scary enough. Darkwood Manor is known to draw its inspiration from HP Lovecraft and classic Gothic horror to Doctor Who and David Lynch. Darkwood Manor changes their storyline every season ensuring that they have a loyal fan base that returns almost every season. The storyline is usually based on the Darkwood family.

History of Darkwood Manor
Darkwood Manor was first created by Louis Brown and his wife Wendy in the late 1900s after Louis found haunted attractions lacking since his last experience with them decades before. According to Mrs. Brown, her husband Louis first came up with the idea after they hosted a Halloween party for a friend. Louis found that the hauntings of the time was nowhere near the standards that he remembered them being. Most of them used cliché props and strobe lights to scare people. Darkwood Manor was not always as large as it currently is, having grown substantially into what it is today. Darkwood Manor was first located at the Page County Fairgrounds in Luray, Virginia for three years before it moved about a mile away from the world famous Luray Caverns.

Legend of Darkwood Manor
For over a century, Darkwood Manor has been a centre point of all kinds of supernatural occurrences and sightings. The Manor was built in the 1880s by the infamous Leroy Darkwood and his wife Raven Darkwood. After many years, the house was given to the Miskatonic University by Leroy’s daughter, and only known heir, Abigail Darkwood upon her death in 1940. The house was left sealed for 48 years after the mysterious death of Dr. Simon Ghoulsby. The professor was found dead of an unknown cause only a year after having moved into the house to do his research in 1953.

“The Dark Hollow Horror: The Legend of the Iron Coffins”
Darkwood Manor employed a number of servants all who lived with their families in Dark Hollow, a hollow of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Darkwood Manor. Due to their connection to the Darkwood family anyone living in Dark Hollow was assumed to have been involved with witchcraft, among other things. In 1935, when Abigail was convinced to sell the Dark Hollow to the government for the creation of a National Park, the Dark Hollow inhabitants chose to protect themselves through dark means. Six different Dark Hollow families joined together to perform the dark ritual that they believed would save their homes. According to the legend the dark ritual performed originated from a dark grimoire stolen from Abigail by Virgil, the caretaker of Darkwood Manor. But their hopes were dashed when the ritual backfired on them. Two months quietly passed by before each of the families, one after the other announced that they were expecting a baby. Each child was born a healthy ordinary baby, except that they grew too rapidly learning to walk within a month and their facial features becoming more twisted as each day passed. This frightened the affected families and not two months after the births, Tom, a member who took part in the ritual came to Virgil to kill the creature he called his daughter. That night the creatures slaughtered the entire town leaving Virgil to find the town void of people, and bodies, in the morning. Desperate, Virgil returned to Abigail to seek her help only to find that the creatures couldn’t be killed. The only option left was for him to take part in another dark ritual in order to summon and trap the creatures. Abigail hid six of the seven iron coffins, they trapped the creatures in, beneath the Manor allowing Virgil to go burry his son in Dark Hollow. Six months later Virgil was found dead, having hung himself in his home. Numerous rumours surrounded his death suggesting he took the cowards way out when his wife left the Hollow with their son. Yet, to this day, no one ever reported having found an iron coffin anywhere in Dark Hollow.

“The Last Horse of Flagstaff”
Leroy Darkwood along with his horse, Bullet, were known as icons of the Old West. Bullet was known for carrying Leroy from city to city with immense speed and agility. Many people believe that Leroy himself robbed the devil of his finest horse and that as long as he rode Bullet the devil would not catch up to him. No one really knows what happened to Bullet after Leroy and Raven got married. He was last seen in Flagstaff, Arizona where the couple purchased new horses and a wagon from a local farmer. No one knows what happened to Bullet after the transaction as he was never taken to any local stable or farm. Many say that even today if you stand out in the desert that surrounds the town you will hear a horse galloping and neighing even though none are present.

Leroy Darkwood
Born in 1842, details about Leroy’s childhood are rather scarce, but it has been said that most of his relatives have questioned his morality due to his superior attitude that he displayed towards everyone. As Leroy grew both in size and in age his behaviour become worse escalading until the suspected murder of a local farmer Clyde Farmer. Panicking, due to the rising suspicions, Leroy’s parents send him Missouri in an attempt to keep him safe. Leroy later fought in the Civil War where he joined the Confederacy, enlisting at the first possible opportunity. Leroy quickly made a name for himself with his exceptional marksmanship. Having ascended rank in the “Quantrill Raiders” Leroy joined the 21st day of the 1863 August Raid on Lawrence Kansas under the pretences that the city was a “stronghold of Union supporters”. This excuse wasn’t always believed though due to the voracious nature of those behind the weapons, it was far more likely that they were there for the shipment of gold bullion that waited at the train station. Leroy’s particularly gruesome actions, while revolting most of his party members, did gain him a new rank in the Confederacy. The total loss of life that night ended at 183 lives. After being dismissed from the Confederacy, for his gruesome actions, Leroy worked as little more than a gun-for-hire for 13 years travelling extensively across the West with letters having him moving from Kansas to New Mexico and eventually arriving in Texas. Wherever Leroy went bodies seemed to follow, especially because he didn’t just go after his targets but also their families. A few years down the line Leroy began to want for something more than just blood, he began thinking of torture. Rumours suggest that some of his victims even committed suicide to escape him. In 1877 after having killed yet another gun-for-hire Leroy met his future wife, Raven Wolf. Returning to Leroy’s hometown of Luray Virginia, the couple returned wealthy. Some historians speculated that the couple possibly got their wealth from the gold that Leroy was rumoured to have hidden after the raid back in 1863. Within two years of their arrival in Luray, Abigail was born in 1880. Another rumour concerning Leroy suggests that as the sixth child of the sixth generation he might have been the victim of his cursed bloodline. Due to the fact that his mother Edith Rhett’s lineage traced back to the murderous Gilles de Rais. And his father Cecil Wood’s dark past dating back to infamous figures such as the werewolf family Gandillion of France.

Raven Darkwood
Raven Wolf was born 1857 somewhere between Las Vegas and the West Coast. Her mother, Singing Wolf was rumoured to have been greatly intelligent so much so that het tribe worried that she would be able to surpass any warrior that dared to be her husband. It was Singing Wolf’s lack of fear that let her start a relationship with Rory O’Conner. Unfortunately, shortly after Singing Wolf became pregnant Rory fled. Four months after being banished from her tribe Singing wolf gave birth to Raven. Raven’s mother taught her a dark path of revenge on the tribes that she felt has always abandoned them. As raven grew she became more and more wilful and independent, rejecting her mother’s desire for vengeance. At the tender age of 16 Raven met her first love, Aiden Wexford. She knew her mother would never approve of them since not only was he a white boy but he was also Irish. They met in secret for months until Aiden finally proposed to her. On the night on their wedding though Singing Wolf found out what they were planning and killed Aiden on the spot. Enraged at her mother’s actions Raven used the knowledge she was taught and killed her mother. Raven was now alone with no one to turn to and she soon found that men were easily bewitched and would then had over all the money that they had. In 1876 the wives of the bewitched men found out what she was doing and tried to burn her alive for witchcraft but one of the men saved her just as she was about to be burned. It was rumoured that she hid herself away for a while, before she returned once more with a new name and a new look just to start it all over again. The year 1877 was the year Raven met Leroy and their stormy relationship had its start. The two fled the city in the dead of night keeping hidden until 1880 when they returned to Leroy’s home town of Luray Virginia. Settling in Luray, Raven was astounded to find that many of the wives in Luray already knew of her talents and were taking measures to ensure that she would not be able to do it again. Their new house was constructed and christened in 1882 with the birth of their daughter Abigail.

Abigail Darkwood
As the only child of Leroy and Raven Darkwood, she was born in 1882, Luray Virginia. During her first few years of life Abigail’s parents changed considerably becoming rather paranoid and withdrawn no longer interested in inflicting misery and pain upon other, keeping most of the Manor doors locked at all times. As a child she had platinum hair which was odd since both her parents had darker-features. Although anyone who saw her had no trouble seeing that she was Leroy’s daughter. Most of the staff at Darkwood Manor said that she possessed a chill to her that was unnatural. She was never allowed to attend any public schools due to her parents’ fear of her being abducted, so she was given a private tutor instead. Abigail was rarely allowed to venture outside of the Manor, restricted to only a few of the Manor’s rooms. Abigail was a curios introvert in her youth growing up in a fear-ridden manor rumoured to have been haunted or controlled by black magic. History seemed to repeat itself with Abigail following in her mother’s strong willed footsteps. Mother and daughter were said to have ended up in many a heated argument about who would be allowed to control Leroy Darkwood. After a tragic fire killing an entire group of musicians in the Darkwood barn Luray was reminded of the darkness that lurked within Leroy. The rumours and suspicions surrounding the fire quickly caused both Abigail and Raven to be isolated from their so called friends in Luray. This caused Abigail to throw herself back into her studies with such vigour that her parents struggled to keep her supplied with new materials. By 1900 she was enrolled into Miskatonic University in Arkham, Mass. During her five years at the university she earned three degrees in various fields of study. At the start of 1910 Darkwood Manor became quiet as Leroy and Raven Darkwood seemed to have just disappeared. Only after the next winter did Abigail report to the authorities that her parents have died of pneumonia during the blizzard that winter. They tried to confirm her story but could never find the servant that was said to have buried them. For years after her parents’ death Abigail travelled abroad, as the sole heir to the Darkwood Manor, sending back postcards of her travels. By 1914 Abigail’s obsession has reached concerning levels. Having returned to Darkwood Manor she requested that no one come near the Manor, for a while after the request rumours surged about both the Manor and Abigail due to the amount of outsiders coming to the Manor after her request. This lasted for a few months before everything became quiet again, with most people accepting that Abigail was probably travelling again. That was until one sunny spring day in April of 1940 when the town received a package of paper work stating that Abigail had died on one of her travels. In the paper work was also her will stating that Darkwood Manor was to be given to the Miskatonic University.