The Whispered Tale of Selwood Manor
By the dim light of the old oil lamp, he found his trembling hands particularly revealing. He was a man of logic, Doctor Francis Baker. He had spent his entire life surrounded by books, dedicating hours on end to studying the great mysteries of the human mind. A psychiatrist by profession, he was far from a believer of the superstitural and paranormal. Yet, tonight, he stood on the precipice of the impossible.
Returning from his long archival, Doctor Baker found himself caught amidst an unexpected storm. Drenched from head to toe, he sought shelter in an ancient manor overlooking the steep cliffs of Cornwall. Its magnificent but ominous facade was strangely inviting. Selwood Manor, it was named, as he learned from a hand-painted sign half cloaked in the wild overgrowth.
~
"Welcome, Doctor. We've been expecting you," a thin, gaunt butler greeted him at the door. Francis was startled, having not revealed his identity to anyone prior. He pondered on the butler's disconcertingly knowing glance but hurriedly dismissed it, attributing it to coincidence.
A lavish dinner awaited him. The Host was reclusive; a businessman of uncertain origins, whose personal life was perceived through the clouded lens of great wealth and greater controversy. As the night unfolded, Doctor Baker found himself ensnared in the intricate web of unspoken secrets that shrouded the manor. The enigmatic host, his peculiar staff, and the whisperings of a ghost.
Sitting alone later that night in a palatial room, the harsh howling of the wind and the creaking old oak echoed through the walls. Suddenly, a chilling sensation washed over him. The clock on the mantelpiece struck midnight. As the rich, melancholic chimes filled the room, the air hung heavy with an unsettling dread. His rational mind rebelled, combating the creeping fear that started to gnaw around the edges of his sanity. Just the storm... he reassured himself, trying to find solace in each echoing tick of the clock.
~
Days turned into weeks. The storm outside turned more fierce and relentless, echoing the tempest brewing within Francis' skeptical mind. Strange occurrences began to unfold within the manor's hauntingly beautiful chambers. Objects moved, mysterious whispers followed him, and the specter of an eerily beautiful woman materialized before his eyes, only to vanish ever so swiftly.
Desperate for explanations, he dug deeper into the manor's past. He discovered the tragic tale of the Host's late wife, Lady Catherine, who met an untimely end under suspicious circumstances. Locals claimed she still roamed the manor, seeking justice, her anguished cries echoing through the mysterious corners.
"Lady Catherine...now there's a tale its walls would whisper if they could," the butler stated cryptically.
~
Driven by a dogged determination to expose the truth, Francis confronted the Host over dinner. Both men locked gazes, mirrors to their unspoken suspicions and dark secrets. Defying the storm's deafening roar, Francis demanded an explanation. The host, in a fiendishly calm demeanor, revealed a dreadful tale of jealousy, unfaithfulness, and murder.
The confession triggered a catastrophic chain of events through the manor. Its silent corners came alive, seething with an intense fury. Lights flickered, doors banged, and the storm outside mirrored the internal upheaval with an appalling similarity. Tormented screams echoed through its colossal structure, and the specter of Lady Catherine appeared, her ethereal beauty now replaced by a haunting anger that sent chills down Francis' spine.
Criminal or victim, living or dead, the lines blurred. As certainty crumbled beneath his rigid perspective, a terrified Doctor Baker found himself questioning everything he thought he knew. His logical mind shattered, replaced by an unparalleled fear that he must escape this place—or forever remain a part of its tale.
~
The storm finally claimed him. He ran blindly, heart pounding in his chest as terror gripped him, until he found himself at the edge of the cliffs. Behind him, Selwood Manor loomed, a formidable silhouette against the storm, its horrors reverberating in the thunder's ominous roars. One last scream of Lady Catherine filled his ears, a chilling crescendo before taking a leap into the stormy abyss below.
His name, Doctor Francis Baker, and his profession, a man of logic, became yet another ghostly whisper in the windy corridors of Selwood Manor. A tale that its walls did whisper, indeed. Forever ensnared in its chilling embrace, he added to the manor's long list of unsolvable mysteries, sending shivers down the spines of those who dare to cross paths with the ancient edifice.
