Phantom Manor
Chapter 5: The History of Thunder Mesa
As the posse finally settled into their chairs, the mayor flipped through the pages of the book and began his story.
"The history of this town dates back all the way to the beginning of the ol' gold rush. This was a time when folks would journey out into the wilderness in search of a priceless mineral. Rich folks, poor folks, it didn't matter, for wherever gold was, they flocked to it. One such individual was a man by the name of Henry Ravenswood, who at the time was in search of gold. Now Henry was a crafty fellow, having proposed a deal with the current board of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers on suspicions of gold being buried not in California, but in a river canyon down in Arizona.
"Henry first struck gold in 1839 while digging through Big Thunder Mountain. The riches he claimed caught the attention of almost every gold digger in the US of A. From there, he established the Thunder Mesa mining company, with himself at its center. Now, a tribe of natives called the Shoshone had made their dwelling on the island of Big Thunder and were driven off their land by the oncoming settlers flocking to Thunder Mesa. They fought long and hard but were unfortunately no match for the might of Ravenswood. However, just before the Shoshone were wiped out, their chief uttered a warning to Henry, advising against delving any deeper into the mountain. For if they were to reach the heart, their deity, the Thunderbird, would awaken and destroy the town, avenging the fallen Shoshone.
"With the recent boom of Thunder Mesa, Henry met a young beautiful rich girl named Martha. She fell in love with him, stating that was just as good as his nuggets of gold. Together, they built the mansion that still stands on top of the hill overlooking the Big Thunder Mountain. Soon after, in 1942, Martha bore a daughter, of which she was given the name Melanie. Melanie grew up to be a beautiful brown-haired girl, raised on storybooks, always playing in the gardens of the mansion under the gazebo.
"Now if people would ever describe Henry Ravenswood, on word that would pop into anyone's head was greedy. Many rumors spread around the town of Henry's lust for gold, wealth, and power eating away at the beauty of the town. Others still talked about the possible threat of the Thunderbird, who had remained undisturbed at that time. But the biggest thing people talked about were about Melanie and her future husband. You see, Henry was very protective over Melanie, seeing her more as an asset to marry off to a rich boy. However, as Melanie began to age and mature, her hatred for the town, her father's grip over it, and the gossip that followed with it grew as well. Legend states that many possible suitors that fell in love with Melanie who were not suitable in Henry's eyes mysteriously disappeared."
"Hold on!" Rose squeaked. "You mean to say that Henry had something to do with the disappearances of Melanie's lovers?" The mayor looked at her surprised. "Well, of course. Back then, rich people would marry off their children to other rich folk to keep their fortunes intact. It was very customary among those cultures. And it was this very fact that Melanie wanted to leave Thunder Mesa."
"Well, why couldn't she?" Rob spoke. "All in good time, my boy. All in good time." Assured the mayor.
"So, what happened to Melanie's suitors?" Steve asked.
"Well, there were six suitors and five of which are known to have died. First, there was the local captain of the river boat "Mark Twain", Rowan Falls, who was last seen sleeping in a rowboat that went over a waterfall. Then there was Ignatius Knight, who was the company's chief seller of dynamite. He unfortunately met his end when a stick of dynamite collapsed the mine shaft that he was in. Thirdly, an entrepreneur of oil by the name of Barry Claude was found torn apart outside his oil mine after a bear attack. Fourth was Sawyer Bottom, owner of the local lumber company responsible for Thunder Mesa's building materials. He was mysteriously found sawed in half by one of his own circular saws alongside a strand of rope and one of the logs. Finally, a young man by the name of Rosco Brisk, who planned on taking Melanie away from Thunder Mesa, was killed in a duel with Henry Ravenswood. The poor bloke was shot in the back."
"You've only mentioned the fates of five suitors, yet specifically mentioned that Melanie had six." Rob chimed in. The mayor stopped and looked at Robert. "I just mentioned the ones that were confirmed dead. However, the sixth suitor was said to have disappeared." The posse looked around at each other wearing confused looks. The mayor cleared his throat to get regain their attention. He then picked up a photograph of several men standing under a sign that read "Big Thunder Mining Company". The mayor pointed a fat finger to a young man in his early twenties with a black hair wearing a foreman's helmet. "His name was Jake Lachlan, a foreman of the mining company." Robert stared at Jake, a twinge of confusion on his face. He felt like he had seen this face before. Then it came to him. This was the same man from his dream.
Suddenly, all at once, a voice started whispering in his ear. "You must know the truth of this cursed place. You must solve the mystery of Phantom Manor." Robert jerked his head, looking around for the voice in his ear. "Who are you?" Robert said aloud. "I am a specter of this place, a guide so to speak." Robert swung around, looking all around the room. "Robert, what are you doing?" Robert turned to see Chris's face scrunched in annoyance. The rest of the posse looked at Robert too. "Uh…" he began, but Chris stopped him. "Stop screwing around! This is your assignment that you're listening to." Chris said as he turned back to face the mayor. Robert sheepishly turned back towards the mayor, but heard the voice speak up again.
"He does not know the whole truth of what happened to Jake Lachlan." Robert tried to ignore the voice, straining all his focus on the mayor's lecture. "I know what has become of Jake. I know that you have seen it just the other night." Robert's attention now strayed to the voice. It knows of what happened to the sixth suitor!? But how? "Can you tell me what happened to him?" Robert said to himself. The voice grew clearer to that of a man's. "How about I show you what happened to him?" Robert then felt himself get pulled out of his chair into the air. The sound of rushing wind filled his ears as he felt himself spinning faster and faster. When at last he felt his feet hit the ground, he opened his eyes.