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Stories of haunted houses abound throughout America and Europe,
but few can boast as many ghostly and unnatural occurrences as
Darklore Manor, the haunted Victorian mansion that once loomed
over the town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, just up the coastline
from Salem.
Strange tales have been passed
down from the time of the earliest settlers to the region. Native
American tribes named the area "the place where shadows
walk," and seldom ventured near the surrounding forests.
It is also believed that the area was originally settled by citizens
of Salem who fled the town during the infamous witch trials in
1692, and that the place became a haven for practitioners of
black magic.
The mansion was built by Edmund
Darklore for his lovely young bride Delarosa. Construction of
the three-story, forty-room Victorian manor began in 1889 and
was completed three years later. During the course of its construction,
two stone masons were crushed to death beneath a wall of bricks
when a hoist rigging mysteriously snapped in two.
 Over
the next forty years, a series of tragedies and deaths plagued
those who would call Darklore Manor home. In 1941, the last of
the Darklore bloodline, Damon Darklore, his wife Elizabeth and
their daughter Belladonna vanished without a trace overnight,
leaving the mansion deserted.
Abandoned and left to fall into
disrepair, this once elegant manor began its decline into decay.
Eventually, tales of ghostly sightings began to surface around
the deserted mansion. Throughout the years there have been numerous
reports of strange lights and sounds coming from inside the house.
A dark form known as the "Shadow Man" has been sighted
at the entrance gates. Another ghost, known as the "Lady
in Black," is believed to be the spirit of Belladonna Darklore,
and has been sighted wandering the manor grounds and halls. It
is said that her dark form appears when the clock strikes the
midnight hour.
On the night of November 27th 1961, area businessman, Theodore
Thompson and his wife were killed in an automobile accident when
their car crashed into a tree in front of the mansion. They were
survived by their six year old son, Theo Jr., who told the police
that his father swerved the car to avoid hitting a woman dressed
in black who was standing in the middle of the road, directly
in front of the gates leading to the house.
On March 13th 1962, local councilman
Richard Franklin was found hanged to death inside the manor.
Although no note was found, the case was ruled a suicide. One
curious footnote concerns the fact that Councilman Franklin was
the last surviving member of the Brotherhood
of Thule, a masonic order of town elders that was founded
by Edmund Darklore.
There have been rumors that a note
was found near Franklin's body, but the facts were later covered-up.
The alleged suicide note was said to have had the words "forgive
me" written in Franklin's handwriting. Other rumors alleged
that the word "sinner" was carved into his forehead.
In a 1967 article appearing in Haunted Havens Magazine
entitled "The Curse of Darklore Manor," the mansion
is reported to be the site of more than a dozen mysterious deaths.
According to the article, these fatalities are believed to be
connected to the occult rituals practiced by the Brotherhood
of Thule. A letter written by Damon Darklore
that was said to have been recovered from his study claims that
his ancestors fell victim to a curse brought on by their own
macabre delvings into the realm of black magic.
According to popular accounts of
the legend, the Darklores conducted arcane ceremonies involving
black magic and sacrificial rites within a secret chamber deep
below the manor. Whether intentionally or by accident, they awakened
an ancient evil which caused the plague of deaths surrounding
the mansion throughout the years. The legend goes on to state
that whatever was conjured forth not only claimed several human
lives, but also stole the souls of those who died within the
manor, leaving them cursed to haunt the mansion and grounds for
eternity.
Many believe that something unnatural
still dwells there, lying in wait for unwary visitors, hungering
for the blood of the living and the souls of the dead.
 Several months after the
Haunted Havens article was published, noted spiritualist
Sandra Faraday investigated Darklore Manor and alleged to have
detected the presence of several paranormal entities. She claimed
to make contact and speak with the spirit of Belladonna Darklore,
who told her that she and her family were murdered and that their
bodies remain hidden within the walls of Darklore Manor, however,
a thorough search of the home revealed no trace of any human
remains.
Members of the paranormal investigative
team reported hearing a music box playing an eerie melody, though
they could not pinpoint the source of the ghostly music. Several
members of the team also reported detecting the unmistakable
aroma of lavender and being overwrought with an unexplainable
feeling of sorrow while inside the house.
Faraday's visit was cut short after
her assistant, Pamela Moore was traumatized by a dark entity
that appeared on the main staircase. Miss Moore claimed that
she was startled as she was ascending the stairs when an icy
cold chill passed through her. She turned to see a man dressed
entirely in black, wearing a Victorian-style tophat and coat,
standing directly behind her on the stair. The man lifted his
head to reveal two gaping black holes where his eyes should have
been. Moore was visibly shaken by the encounter and refused to
return to the house. Though photographers shot several rolls
of film inside the mansion, none of the pictures could be developed.
 
The Darklore curse reached its zenith in 1968 when three
area teens were reported missing after setting out to hold
a séance inside the mansion on Halloween night. Seventeen
year old Eric Shipley, along with sixteen year old James Murphy
and Andrea Mather were never seen again. Theories have arisen
that the teens somehow gained access to the mansion and, once
inside, the three held a séance to speak with the dead.
But instead of merely communing with spirits, they disturbed
and awakened some unnatural force that trapped them within the
house and eventually caused their deaths.
On Halloween night in 1971, Darklore
Manor was the scene of a mysterious fire, and the mansion burned
to the ground. The official police report lists the cause of
the fire as arson, however, there are rumors of a cover-up concerning
certain facts of the investigation including the discovery of
skeletal remains of several bodies found deep in the foundation
of the ruins.
Though few traces of the mansion
remain, reports of the Lady in Black continue to this day near
the site of the old manor house, and the mystery of the Darklore
curse remains unresolved.
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