The House on Evergreen Row

Chapter 1

The house on the Evergreen Row?

You’ve found out about it, I see. Indeed, it has always been the talk of the town for as long as I could remember.

It is a big house, a mansion, that sits atop a hill in perfect quietude. There are no other homes nearby. The closest is at least 20 miles away. To the unsuspecting eye, it looks pleasant.

But you must not go there.

Not under any circumstances.

Why shouldn’t you go? You say, you tire of nobody explaining the situation to you?

Haha.

You mustn't blame them, my friend.

They don’t want to tell an outsider. You are new after all. City folk are always viewed with some skepticism up here– don’t take it personally. These small towns are very tightly knit. They try to keep situations like this out of sight, so people like yourself don’t get the wrong idea.

Sometimes slick reporters come up asking about the ‘ghost town’ or the ‘haunted mansion’. That type of thing. The town doesn’t need to have anymore of a reputation than it already has.

However, the things that happen in that house are strange. Inexplicable. It honestly would be better if you didn’t know—but I’ll tell you because you are curious, and you curious people always get hurt snooping around.

The proprietor is an odd fellow, the quiet sort, man by the name of James Willington III. Nobody knows much about him, other than that he owns the home and is a widow. He had a wife who died under mysterious circumstances in that mansion.

Don’t ask me the hows. I don’t know. The papers said she fell ill suddenly. Willington never remarried. And her passing was some 20 years ago. As far as I know he has no family living with him, just the servants.

Please, have a seat. This might take some time.

Could I interest you in a cup of tea? No? Well, we can always reheat it later if need be.

Anyway, I can say that it begins in 1917.

Don’t look at me like that. You’re the one asking about the history of the house. It starts there because that’s when the Willingtons purchased the property. Yes, they’ve been a fixture in town for as long as I’ve been here, and plenty before my time too.

And for some time, they were just like any other well off family. They kept to themselves, but you’d see them in town here and there. They’d go to events, run errands, things like that. That’s what I’ve been told.

But something changed around…let us say 1950. By then, people stopped seeing the Willingtons in town. They stopped answering invitations, stopped coming to do any business, no parties, no weddings, no funerals…nothing. They only sent their servants to run errands. Not even the postmen saw anything when they did their deliveries.

It is not confirmed…but considering the strange stories that come out of that house, I feel a little more inclined to believe it.

Now, it’s just a rumor, but there was a story that one of the daughters of the Willingtons had upset a witch. Yes, bear with me. Well, in fact there are two prominent rumors about it.

One claims that one of the daughters, a bit of a wild child, had stolen the attention of a woman’s husband. Running around town, sneaking behind the wife’s back. They say that one day the woman found out about it and cursed the daughter and the rest of her family.

The other rumor refers to the Willingtons’ property. As you probably know, the Willingtons owned the acres around their mansion, but they also held other pieces of land too. They were supposed to make a deal on the land that is now–you know where the apartments are built now? The West Plains? Yes, right there. Well, something happened. They were going to sell the land, but the deal didn’t go through. It was never said why.

Around that time, that’s when all the strange behavior and happenings began. Some said that they invoked the wrath of a witch who was one of the interested parties in that land. Who knows? The investors weren’t happy for sure.

They did sell the land years later though. Quietly.

Could be silly rumors. Could be more. Again, not sure. I’m just giving you what I do know.

…Anyhow, once they stopped coming into town, they did have some friends and other concerned parties attempt to visit them.

Sometimes the butler would turn them away at the door. Sometimes the gates leading up to the place were locked. But on the off chances that anyone was allowed in…they’d come back changed.

Some said they had some shock that turned every ounce of their hair gray. Some report losing their vision. Others started seeing things that weren’t there–or maybe are there for them, but not for the rest of us. A great deal of visitors were admitted to mental institutions. A few have died of unnatural causes. Some were suicides.

All after visiting that mansion.

Ghost stories, you say? Maybe. But I knew some of those folks as a child growing up in town and they didn’t seem right. They were never the same again after visiting that place on the hill.

If that doesn’t convince you to not go digging up around that house, I’m not sure what would. And if you did go looking for answers, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

….I can see the glint in your eye. You want more. Of course, those tales only scratch the surface of things that have happened up there.

I can give you my own personal account.

No, no, no.

I haven’t been there personally. I doubt I’d be here telling you about it if I had been. But I had an acquaintance who visited the house on Evergreen Row years ago.

Her name was Patricia Paddock.

No. The Patricia I once knew died after going to that house. I’m unsure if she’s still walking—though doubtable moving— on the earth.

If I tell you this story, you must promise me not to visit that house.

Swear to it.

I don’t want to be telling stories about you next.

…Very good.

Then let us begin.