A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE STRAND FAMILY, 1923-2015
A headcanon post for Tumblr that spiraled out of control and turned into this monster: five pages of Strand family history, beginning with the birth of Strand's father.
1923: THE BIRTH OF IRA STRAND
Ira Strand is born to Benjamin and Lilith Strand, members of a traveling circus (formerly known as a freak show before such things were shunned). The Strands have been a member of this circus since its founding in the early nineteenth century and Ira Strand is the fourth generation to travel with the show. Benjamin is involved in the acquisition of 'talent' while Lilith is the resident psychic.
A young Ira shows promise in his father's field, blessed with the dubious 'gift' of attracting unique individuals.
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1941: THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN STRAND, SUBSEQUENT DEPARTURE FROM THE CIRCUS
Benjamin Strand is killed in a horrific accident caused by the circus' wild beasts. The accident is deemed to have been brought about by a grievous oversight on management's part, and Ira Strand threatens to sue. In recognition of the Strands' contribution to the circus, they are instead offered a respectable sum as restitution and offered a lucrative promotion should they stay on.
Ira accepts the money offered as compensation for his father's death but decides to leave the circus, and takes with him his mother. The Strands leave behind the comfort of all they know and explore what lies beyond the circus.
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1948: THE STRANDS MOVE TO CHICAGO
Seven years after leaving the circus, things are not looking good for Ira Strand. A lifetime of recruiting odd people for the circus has left him with no real life skills, and his mother's tarot readings cannot be relied upon as a primary source of income. To make matters worse, Strand finds himself taken with a young girl named Charlotte, an heiress whose parents would never allow for such a poor match.
With an admirable amount of perseverance, Ira Strand manages to get his business – the trade of exotic items – off the ground and finds success seemingly overnight. He attributes this turn of events to his past, which left him with a very specific network of acquaintances who are able to help him procure interesting objects certain people are willing to pay very handsomely for.
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1949: THE DEATH OF LILITH STRAND
Having grown suspicious of her son's seemingly endless supply of good fortune, Lilith Strand takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the matter. What she finds is a demon board hidden in Ira's room and whispers of a deal struck with an entity even her ancestors would not have dreamed of calling upon.
Lilith Strand is found dead in her bed, having suffered from a heart attack. Ira's newfound friends and betrothed, Charlotte Astor, rally around him to offer support in these trying times.
The truth behind his mother's death is one Ira will carry to his grave.
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1951: THE WEDDING OF IRA STRAND AND CHARLOTTE ASTOR
Now a man of considerable status, Ira is finally given the Astor patriarch's blessing when he asks for Charlotte's hand in marriage. The wedding is a grand affair, and the bride wears a gown gifted to her by the groom himself, said to have once belonged to a distant Queen.
The newlyweds settle down in a grand manor and with Charlotte's connections, the Strand business continues to prosper.
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1965: THE DEATH OF CHARLOTTE ASTOR-STRAND AND BIRTH OF RICHARD STRAND
After many years of trying, the Strands are blessed with a child. Sadly, tragedy strikes when mother and child are separated upon birth. Charlotte Strand, having suffered from complications due to her advanced age at the time of her first pregnancy, passes away at the age of thirty-eight.
The Astors blame the child for the loss of their only daughter and exile the Strands from the family. Ira and Richard are left all alone in this world, with no one but each other to turn to.
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1969: THE HAUNTING OF STRAND MANOR
Richard Strand, a young boy only four years of age, is known to all as a remarkably well-behaved boy. When he starts wailing and shrieking non-stop at night, it is a mystery to all but the boy's father.
The past returns to haunt Ira, and regrets cannot appease a demon here to collect what is due. Someday, the youngest Strand will unleash Hell upon Earth. Until then, shadows will fill his head with prophecies of what is to come, and the more young Richard tries to shut his eyes and pretend nothing's there, the more his visitors act up to prove their existence. Things go bump in the night, the attic beckons with sinister whispers, windows and mirrors shatter of their own accord.
Strand Manor is closed to all visitors.
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1973: THE DEMON BOARD
Richard is eight now, and hardened by years of being terrorized by unknown entities. If he says there is nothing lurking in the shadows, then there is nothing. If he says there are no whispers coming from the darkened hallway, then there is nothing. If he feels a chill in the air and eyes on his back, then he will throw the mirror to the ground before something warps his reflection.
But the shadows are not so easily dismissed.
One day, something comes clattering down the stairs, seemingly flung out of the attic. Ira Strand can only watch in horrified silence as his son picks up the demon board from so long ago, the demon board Ira himself had set fire to shortly after the death of his mother.
He tells Richard it is something acquired from his travels, a rarity among Ouija boards. Ira does not tell his son of the burden upon his young shoulders, but he makes sure Richard knows that there is something on the other end of that demon board and these things are to be taken seriously. The next day, he sells the board to an unknown party on the other side of the world.
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1983: THE BIRTH OF CHARLOTTE STRAND
Having left for college the previous year, Richard Strand shows up on his father's doorstep one day with a child in tow - the product of a fleeting distraction, born only three months ago. The mother signed away her rights to the child before she was even born, and disappeared two weeks later.
Charlotte becomes the apple of her grandfather's eye, a chance to see what it would have been like to raise Richard without the looming presence of shadows and bargains and guilt over a mistake made so many years ago. As for Richard, he is well aware of something, even if he will never admit to it. It is decided that Charlotte will remain in her grandfather's care while her father pursues his education, the most rational move available to them. It is also the best way to keep her from the shadows while she is still this young, but the men do not acknowledge this out loud.
Richard returns to Vancouver, taking with him his shadows and leaving behind his daughter.
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1987: THE WEDDING OF RICHARD STRAND AND CORALEE JACOBSON
Having acquired both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in as expeditious a manner as possible, Richard Strand returns to Chicago to retrieve his daughter and they set out to begin a new life. He takes with him the lovely Coralee Jacobson as well, a young college graduate who has been Charlie's babysitter for the past four years. The two have managed to maintain a relationship despite the distance between them and Richard's infrequent trips home, and decide to get married before they leave Chicago. Coralee, the only motherly figure Charlie has ever known, is all too happy to become the girl's step-mother.
Ira is left alone in a house no longer haunted by demons, only the lingering ghosts of regret and guilt.
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1995: THE INSTITUTE'S HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Now a well-respected academic, Doctor Richard Strand sets out on a project (a crusade, his peers sometimes call it) to combat the rising popularity of so-called ghosts sightings and the likes. He publishes a string of books that combine his knowledge of religion and psychology in an attempt to introduce reason to an easily-convinced public. His editor calls him a one-man team, and jokingly starts to refer to him as The Strand Institute.
No one knows Strand's true motivation behind this: the less he believes – the less the world believes – the less power the shadows have.
Charlie Strand, having inherited her father's sharp mind, flourishes in school and skips two grades. It is at this time that her classmates begin to tease and shun her, intimidated by her genius. Meanwhile, Coralee struggles to make a choice: to go back to school, or to have a child.
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1997: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CORALEE STRAND
At the beginning of the year, the Strands move back to Chicago. Ira's health is failing and despite his seemingly-distant relationship with his father, the thought of losing him terrifies Strand. Some part of him is still just a scared young boy, waiting for his father to come storming into his room to turn on the lights and banish the shadows.
The move does them well. Strand is offered a position at the university. Charlie manages to talk her parents and teachers into hiding the fact that she's younger than her classmates, and this time she blends in wonderfully. Coralee decides to finish up her studies. The Strands are ready to settle down, to start building a life. They start by purchasing a house, hoping to turn it into a home that future generations of Strands will flourish in. For a time, all is (almost) well, if one ignores the shadows that have followed them and the near-constant arguments between husband and wife as Coralee pushes for another child now that Charlie is grown and they have the space to expand their family.
And then: Coralee disappears. Charlie leaves.
Ira and Richard find themselves right back at the beginning: all alone, with no one but each other and the shadows.
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1998: THE DEATH OF IRA STRAND AND THE FOUNDING OF THE STRAND INSTITUTE
Ira Strand passes away in his sleep at the age of 75. It is not a peaceful death, and the image of his face contorted into a scream haunts Richard for the rest of his life.
Strand Manor, along with all of its odds and ends (antiques, cursed items, decades-old nightmares and memories), is tidied up and sold away.
The Strand house, the one that still echoes with Coralee's singing and Charlie's laughs, is left abandoned for a full year before Richard Strand, armed with his inheritance, founds the Strand Institute and designates this as the Institute's headquarters.
With his father dead, his wife missing (and presumed dead) and his daughter gone, Strand throws himself into his work. His only purpose in life is to deny the shadows the power of belief.
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2015: THE BLACK TAPES PODCAST
Despite his best efforts, one man alone cannot wage war against Hell itself. Strand shoulders the burden of his curse, knowing only that he is cursed but sorely lacking in details as he tries to find a way around it. The price of giving up is too steep for him to even consider it but with every passing day, Strand wonders if it's even up to him anymore. Surely there are others out there, and one of them is bound to give in eventually. He puts the Institute on hold, for lack of a better term, and sets out to find these others on his own.
What he finds is a nightmare: there are others, more than he could have possibly feared. He hunts them down, tries to minimize the damage as best he can, tries to steal the key before these people accidentally unlock a door they don't even know they have access to. Some doors he successfully locks… others, he arrives to find the door blown off its hinges.
Alex Reagan arrives at his own door one day, knocking relentlessly until he lets her in. And it's a good thing he does, because Alex and her show might just be the answer to his question – a way to locate those doors before they're opened.
Unfortunately, Alex opens some doors of her own and by the end of the year, Strand finds himself facing the possibility of Coralee's return and the impending arrival of a mysterious figure.
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PRESENT DAY: APOCALYPSE DELAYED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
The clock ticks ever closer to midnight. A new year (filled with endless opportunities for disaster) awaits Strand, even as he celebrates the end of another year passing by without him accidentally summoning Satan's army.
Not that any of this is real, of course.
Yesterday, I promised Tumblr a 'super long' Strand family headcanon post. For future reference, when I say 'super long', I mean it – this clocks in at two thousand words. Also, if you're interested in my theory on Coralee's disappearance, head on over to my personal Tumblr (Eleanor-3) and click on TBTP Theory #3: The Strands. As usual, comments would be greatly appreciated.
This is part of a holiday collection I put together for Christmas. If you enjoyed this fic and would like to read more, please check out the rest of the collection. Who knows, we might have some other fandoms in common!
Happy New Year!
E Salvatore,
December 2015.