Darkness fell across the skies, and the rain had just started to drizzle. It was coming, a storm that would be called the worst storm to hit the small Indiana town, since that fateful night back in 1992. The thunder clasped and the townspeople ran to secure their belongings. The wind blew with such ferocity, that even the stoplights were swinging to and fro. The people of Jackson Mills were not ready for this one particular storm, and they had no idea what brought it to them.
It was not a big town; it only consisted of a small mom and pops store, with a gas station, a small family restaurant, and a volunteer fire department. There were quite a few houses there and for a town its size, not to have the things like other towns had, was a little weird. There was a lot more people that live on the outskirts of the town, and even farther then that, and then you came to the mansion.
Lightning flashed showing an old iron fence, which over the gate, proudly proclaimed the land and the subsequent house on the other side of the trees, as CEDAR GROVE, and it stood as a monument to what many people thought was the evil within.
The large mansion had been deserted for over 50 years and no one had of yet seen fit to tear it down. The townspeople feared it. They were always telling stories of things happening there. Someone seen a light in a window, or someone else had caught a glimpse of a silhouette against a curtain. Anything, to keep the legend alive and alive and well it was still.
The headlights of a van came up to the gates, and a woman climbed out, produced a key, and with a rusty click, unlocked the padlock that kept the outsiders out. She motioned the driver of the van through, then closed them back, and relocked them. Taking the time to look up at the house on top of the hill, she felt a little shiver come over her.
“Why did I let him talk me into this?” She asked herself. “There’s something terribly wrong with this place.”
She stood out in the rain for a minute, and the rain was soaking her auburn hair. Her blue eyes watching all the fireworks as the lightning hit around the mansion, while it lit the pale complexion of her face. She could feel herself tense up, and looked away.
She got back into the van and they went up the long driveway to the house. The closer they got to the house, the more dread she felt. She knew that it was probably just the stories that she had heard. Most were probably just myths and local ghost stories, but she knew for a fact that 15 years ago, five school kids had come up here and were never heard from again.
She vaguely remembered that time, for she grew up not far from here. There was a big show of a search party for the missing kids, but nothing had turned up. Nor were their whereabouts ever known. She had only been 9 years old at the time, but she remembered that all the mothers in her town were always afraid to let the children out of their sights. Anywhere the kids went, so did one of the parents. If there was not a parent around, then you just did not go there.
Everything died down after a while, but it had stuck with her.
When she was, seventeen her and her boyfriend had went out, and decided to see who was the more chicken. She had known what he really wanted, but that was ok, because she wanted the same thing. They drove to this house, but thank God, they could not get past the gate. In the middle of the heavy petting, she had looked up and thought that she had seen something. She had screamed, and that was the end of that. Over the years, she had convinced herself that it was just her imagination, but the doubt had always been there.
The van came to a stop, and the woman and two men got out. One of the men had a video camera with him, and lit it up.
With the light from the camera glowing, the womans shadow fell over the front of the house like a looming giant. The man with the camera lifted his hand and said with each finger going down. “Three,… Two,…One!”
The woman looked at the camera and smiled. “Fifteen years ago, five high school students went into this house that you see behind me, never to emerge. Their bodies were never found, nor were any evidence of foul play. There were only two pieces of evidence that suggested that these children had entered the house. One. A car known to belong to one of the kids, a blue 1984 Camero, was found at the gate, and two, a teddy bear that one of the girls was always seen with, was found in the foyer.”
“Tonight, we have been given special permission to tour this strange old house, and to give you, the viewers, a closer look.”
The rain started coming down a bit harder, and lightning flashed across the sky illuminating the dark and desolute house. “Hi, I’m Lisa Walker, and tonight is the first story of a series of documentaries entitled “HAUNTED INDIANA”. Lisa motined for the camera to cut.
Kenny, the cameraman, stopped the filming at once, and lowered the camera. “Lisa.” he smiled, excitedly. “That was great! I mean the way the lightning struck, it was just perfect, and I have it all on tape!”
Kenny pulled at his glasses, as he did every time he was excited. Being a little over weight, he knew that he was lucky to get this kind of job. Even thought he acted like a kid sometimes, he looked as if he was in his mid thirty’s. His brown hair was long in the back, and tied into a ponytail, and on the top, he was already balding. His plump face held out that he was always going to be who he was, and Lisa found that it did not bother her at all. He was still the nicest and most caring man she had ever met.
“That’s nice Kenny.” Lisa said disinterestedly. “I really just want to get this night over with.”
When Jim Howenstein, the producer ot the channel 11 news, first brought up the idea of a series of documentaries on haunted places of Indiana, Kenny had jumped at the chance. Kenny was so damned gung-ho, and thought that this would help him on his way to become a great cameraman.
Lisa looked at the third person of their little group, and rolled her eyes with contempt. She figured he was a fraud. Even Jim thought that the psychic was a fake, but he felt it would make good press if they had a supernaturalist with them. His name was Craig Garrison, and he was probably the most celebrated psychic in Indiana. He had had his own TV show back in the 90’s and was still sought after, so Jim decided that for the documentaries he would be perfect. Jim’s idea was to boost the ratings and Lisa and her crew was going to do it for him.
“So Craig. Do you feel anything?” Lisa asked, sweetly. Inside she was seething, for she felt that it would be just better telling the stories, and not giving people demonstrations of a charelton.
The little man looked up at Lisa and fixed her with a gaze. “Not yet, but I think there are things here that will be interesting to say the least.” He said, peering his bug eyes out of the top of his wired rimmed glasses.
If you were to look at Craig, you would have thought that his profession would have been an accountant. He was a man of small stature, and as petite as a man could be, and still not be called effeminate. Craig had a nasally sound when he talked, and that did make him seem effeminate though, and the glasses that he wore made him even more so. The only thing missing from his nerdy look was a pocket protector. Lisa found herself hoping that this man could make it through the night.
“Figures.” Lisa mumbled, walking away.
“Lisa!” Craig started, “Just because you don’t believe in me, don’t think that supernatural events do not happen. Because they do!” He protested. “And if I don’t feel anything then I will not tell you that I do!”
“Right!” She said, with a hint of exasperation in her voice. “Let’s just get in there, get what we are after and get out!”
The trio walked into the foyer, and stripped off their wet jackets. Lisa looked into the next room and saw that it was well kept. She walked into it and thought, ‘The owner must have sent someone here to clean it since we were coming.’
They turned on the lights in the living room and set their equipment down. The feeling in the room was one of damptness and there was a chill in the air. Lisa could feel the goosebumps start to rise on the back of her neck. She felt something grab here from behind, and she jumped.
“Lisa, how do you want to do this?” Kenny asked from behind her. “Whoa. Kind of jumpy aren’t you?”
Regaining her composer, she stood up straight. “I’m just still chilled from the rain outside.” She said matter-of-factly.
“Ok, ok” Kenny backed away. “It’s just that ever since we took this assignment you have been a bit jittery.”
Lisa was ready to explode! It was his fault that she was even here, and she wanted to say so, but knew that it would not be productive. She knew that Kenny would not understand. He grew up in Indianapolis, and they did not have the stories there that the outlaying areas did. Their horrors were more mundane then the things that happened out here.
“Jittery? Jittery?” She suddenly let loose. “Kenny, I grew up not 15 miles from here! I rememeber the incident, and I remember it well. I was 9 years old. The parents were scared, which made us even more afraid. They never found the bodies of those kids, and for years, the authorities had been searching this house for any, ANY evidence that there was any foul play involved. To make us behave, our parents threatened to bring us here, drop us off and let the ghosts, or whatever is here, have us! Now I find myself here!, and do you wanna know something? I’m scared!” She was screaming. “I’m scared SHITLESS!”
“I didn’t realize.” Kenny murmered. “Lisa. I’m here and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You men and your macho male crap!” She smiled a bit.
She had known Kenny for 5 years and found him to be a great friend. He was witty, friendly, and had a funloving sence of humor. He was the kind of guy that would make some girl lucky someday, and she kind of wished it were her. Lisa had never told Kenny how she felt. She was afraid of how he would take it. Lisa had had maybe three boyfriends in her life that she would have done anything for, and all three ended up hurting her. One had commited suicide, one had left her for her best friend in high school, and the other moved away.
“You love it and you know it!” Kenny retorted. “Now, where do you wanna start?” He reached down and pick up the camera.
Lisa turned and looked at Craig and smiled sweetly. “So Craig where would you say the most active spot in the house is?”
Craig looked up startled. He had been examining a stain on the carpet. There was something about it that he felt very uneasy about, but he did not think that anyone else cared about it one-way or the other. “Wh-wh-what Miss. Walker?”
Giving him a strange look, she asked again, “Where would you say the focal point would be?”
“I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that there’s something else that has happened here. I really don’t think it’s a haunting at all!” He said looking back at the stain. “Something entirely different then what people think. Oh, there are spirits in this house, but they are the spirits of the lost children.”
Lisa looked a confused look at Craig, turned to Kenny as if to say,’Your getting this , right?’, then back to Craig. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I do know that their bodies are still in this house. They were not killed by ghosts, evil spirits, or even demons! Something happened that night to these kids that were more man-made.” He walked to the stain once more and put his hand upon it.
“What is that?” Lisa demanded, her eyes fixed upon the charcoal grey stain on the carpet.
Standing back up, and looking directly at the camera, he said. “That, my dear, is a stain.”
Lisa burst out laughing. “NO!” She spat out, sarcastically. “It doesn’t take a psychic to see that’s what that is!”
“It is also what is telling me that the bodies are still here. I can feel the spirits, five of them. They are here, and they are telling me that their bodies are here also.” He was looking at Lisa with such intensity, that she had no choice but to believe him.
When she finally spoke, she felt that her voice was weaker. “We’re here to film a documentery, not to solve a mystery.” However, already she was seeing the raise in her salary if they found the children. She could ask for any price anywhere and she would get it.
“Lisa, if we found these poor children then we can lay them to rest, they would be able to escape this place, and if they did that we would be responsible for it!” Craig prompted, as if explaining to a small child. “Just think what that would do for your ratings!”
Lisa looked up to the ceiling and stood there for a minute, as if she was thinking it over. “All right,” She said, determinedly. “Let’s do it!”
Lisa bent down, and examined the stain. It was a grayish color, and looked as if it had been there for a while. She wondered if the police had found this when they did there examination of the house. A dark stain on a white carpet would show. Surely, they would not miss it.
Kenny laid the camera down on the floor, and walked to the fireplace. Lisa winced as he dragged the metal grateing out of the opening.
“Kenny, what are you doing?” She asked, glancing over to him.
“Well, isn’t it obvious where that stain came from? The bodies have to be in the chimney!” He was excited at the prospect of being the one to discover the bodies. He was thinking to himself what it would do to boost his career, and the money he would make. “Bring me that flash light, will ya?”
Lisa took it over and handed it to Kenny. He shined the beam up into the dark narrow passage above him, but he saw nothing. He swore, then brought the flashlight out.
“Nothing?” Lisa asked, crestfallen.
“Nothing!” Kenny replied, just as the floor underneath him gave way. He fell through with an agonizing thud, and Lisa ran to the opening.
“KENNY!” She screamed! Looking in the hole in the floor of the fireplace, she could see the beam of the flashlight. “Kenny! Are you ok?”
Every second that he did not answer, she felt her heart tear a bit more. Every second felt like an eternity, as she felt the tears well up in her eyes. She wanted to scream, and yell, she wanted to punch Jim in the face for getting them into this. She hated him more the anyone else in the world right now, and she knew that she was going to rip him up the next time she saw him.
“I’m ok!” She heard after a minute, and her heart swelled. “Lisa get me the camera! You’re not going to believe what I found down here!” He yelled up excitedly, and shined the light at what looked to be a video camera. “I think after all these years we’re about to find out what happened to these kids.”
Lisa ran over grabbed the camera, and went back to the hole in the floor. “Here!” She said, breathlessly. Kenny helped her down, and told her to watch her step.
“Craig! Get down here!” He yelled above him. It was completely dark down there except for the flashlight and the light comeing from the hole above them, but when Craig started down, he blocked that, and Lisa felt the coldness come over her once again.
Kenny started the camera and the heavy light that he brought with him. He gave the cue, and Lisa started. “We are standing in a small room underneath the fireplace where we just found a video camera, one that we believe may have been one of the missing kids’” Lisa said excitedly. Kenny turned the camera to show the whole room, and then the light fell on five skeletons. Lisa screamed! “It seems… it seems…” she took a breath, and recomposed herself. “It seems we have just found the remains of the kids that disappeared 15 years ago.”
Craig walked to the skeletons and bent down. They were laying as if they had been just resting when they perished. He looked up, and there were tears in his eyes. He was crying for the lost youth, the lost innocence that lay in the form of bones in front of him. “It was senceless!” He cried out. “They didn’t need to die! You BASTARDS!”
Lisa walked over to Criag and put her arms around him. Her own tears were now falling. “Craig? You ok?” She managed.
“They killed them! They killed them, and hid their bodies down here! The police had no idea that they were down here. None!” He muttered taking his glasses off. “I don’t think they meant to, kill them I mean, I think it was just a prank that went bad.”
“Who killed them Craig?” Lisa asked.
Craig looked down on the dead children once more. “They’re on the video.” He quietly spoke.
“I can save you the trouble.” Came a voice from above them. “I did it.”
The shadowy figure in the opening had a gun trained on them. “Come on out of there and I’ll explain.”
Craig came up first, then Lisa , and Kenny followed with his camera. When they were all up, the man with the gun motioned for them to sit. They did. Looking around the room, Lisa could feel that they would not make it out alive. She knew that this man killed before, and probably would have no qualms to doing it again to keep his secret. “Who are you?” She finally asked. If she was going to die, then she was not going to show this man who was going to take her life any fear.
The man looked worn out, and unkempt. “My name is Brad Kitchner. I was the captain of the football team at Woodsville High.” He smiled. “We didn’t mean to kill them. We wanted to scare them into giving us a video that they had shot. There were twelve of us! Twelve! It just got out of hand!” He was crying. The torture of that night was being relived, and you could see the regret that he was feeling. “We beat them to death. We just couldn’t stop.”
“What did the tape contain?” Lisa asked, suddenly interested in more then just her life.
Brad looked down, as if he were ashamed. He blushed as the words came out of his mouth, but he pushed forward. “Some of us were caught in sexual compromising positions, and they videotaped it. We didn’t even know it. When we found out, we decided to teach them not to mess with us. We all knew that they were coming here to film, and well, then things just got out of control.”
Kenny looked down, and saw the camera was still rolling, and was promted to say, “Why didn’t you call the police, and explain that?”
He gave Kenny a haunted look and replied, “Yeah, ok how would that look twelve football players, against three boys and two girls? That would look pretty wouldn’t it. We used to come here to drink, so we knew about the room under the fireplace, we hid the bodies there, and took the camera down there, thinking no one would ever find it.”
He paused for a minute, then looked at them all in turn. “I wasn’t going to jail then, and I sure ain’t going now!”
“What are you going to do with us?” Craig asked, with his eyes narrowing. He looked as if he was constipated.
Brad looked as if he was sorry, but he said bluntly. “We’re going to go back down into that little room, and you’re going to join them. Sorry about this, but I really wouldn’t survive in prison.”
Craig smiled a little, and looked intently at Brad. “Son, do you have any idea who I am?”
“Yeah, you’re that pyschic guy, sooooooo” Brad answered. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
“I’m more then psychic,” Craig began, “I am a medium. I channel spirits. I can command them. Look behind you!”
Brad looked behind him, and started screaming. Lisa and Kenny couldn’t see anything, but evidently, Brad and Craig could. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Brad yelled. “You are all dead! We killed you!” He bellowed.
Crying, he sunk down to his knees, and covered his head. “Please. I’m sorry!” he blubbered. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Brad sat there in that position, for what seemed forever, and then brought the pistol around, and placed it in his mouth. “God forgive me!” He muffled out, and then pulled the trigger. Brad fell over, and was gone.
Kenny picked up the camera as Lisa ran to the shell of the man that was lying on the floor. Lisa looked at the camera, in total shock. “Kenny!” She said, unsure of herself. “Kenny, he’s dead!”
“I know Lisa.” Kenny agreed. He turned to Craig and demanded, “What did you do?”
“I did nothing except to push him in the right direction.” Craig was blunt. “Mr. Kitchner, was the one that wanted it to end. All I had to do was make a suggestion, and he saw what he saw.”
“And what was it he saw?” Lisa stood back up, walking towards the door.
“I guess we’ll never know!” Came Craig’s response.
The storm was over, yet the mansion that towered over the estate was surrounded by darkness. The spirits of the past still seemed to loom over the house that the spirits belonged to, and for now it was enough, that five of them were put to rest.
As the News van rounded, the corner to the Iron Gate Lisa took one last glance at the dwelling on the hill, and saw something in one of the upstairs windows.
Kenny broke her concentration, by saying, “Everything ok Lisa?”
She looked at Kenny then back to the window. There was nothing there. Lisa sighed, and then got in the van. “Yep!” She smiled, “Everythings fine.”
