The Cairbh Gorge

The Cairbh Gorge, Ireland, is a deep, steep-sided valley that is impossible to climb out of. It is in a heavily wooded area and is far from civilisation. It is impossible to see the bottom of the valley. Sometimes, travellers hear horrific moans coming from the valley. Many claim the valley is haunted by a ‘bogey’ or evil spirit.

Possibilities

1 Several hundred years ago, a group of druids sought the area for its isolation. They were casting a spell that would give them immortality. At the climax of the ritual, a group of bandits attacked the druids and murdered them. After taking anything of valley, they dumped the corpses in the valley. Because the ritual was not finished, the druid’s spirits are still bound to their bodies in a horrible sort of half-life, screaming out in agony.

2 The IRA is active in the area and has found a novel way of disposing of prisoners. The prisoners are tied up and dropped into the valley, from which they can’t escape.

Anyone passing through will be terrified by the screams from the valley and attribute them to an ‘evil ghost.’ The valley floor contains three decayed corpses and one still living man, screaming into the night.

3 During the Victorian Era, the Irish explorer, Eamon Fitzgibbon, was deeply disturbed by an expedition to Africa. He also had a horrible mouth-like gash along his arm. Returning home, he raved about ‘deathless savages’ and ‘the accursed pits’ before dying. The horror happened at his funeral when Fitzgibbon rose from his coffin and began trying to feast upon the villagers. Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to damn his soul, they flung him into the valley, from which he could not escape. He is still there today, horribly decayed, but still hungry.

© Paul Hebron

Stop, Thief!

The character is caught up in a bank robbery. (S)he was walking down the street when shots were fired. The robbers then came dashing out of the bank, and one, mortally wounded, collapsed in the character’s arms. Yet, only seconds later, nothing seems to have happened at all; there was no robbery, no dead man, and nobody but the character remembers anything at all about the incident.

Image by artflow.ai

Possibilities

1 Precognition. The events that the character saw will take place, but a week from now, at exactly the same time and in the same place. Before then, the character will see the ‘dead’ robber in the street, going about his business; what will the character do?.

2 Mental instability. The character recently survived a near-fatal incident. (S)he is dwelling on it, and is also suffering from delayed shock. The ‘death’ was an illusion, brought on by an overwrought mind. There will be more just like it - and each dead soul wears the character’s face.

3 Postcognition. The events that the character witnessed happened some time ago (years, potentially decades), at exactly the same time and place. However, now the dead robber has something to latch on to - the character - and his ghost will linger.

© Adam Gauntlett

Missing Kids

Two 19-year-olds, a boy and a girl, are missing from a lakeside camp. The name of the lake: Crystal Lake.

Image by artflow.ai

A popular ghost story is that some years ago, a boy drowned in the lake and never resurfaced.

Possibilities

1 The two kids have eloped, intending to cross the state line to get married. A forgotten diary or a bunkmate might divulge this information. The ghost story is just that - a story. Every camp has one.

2 The two kids went for a late-night swim in the lake and happened upon an underwater cave. As it happens, the ghost story is real, and the ghost of the drowned kid haunts the area. Unfortunately for the two missing kids, they got lost in the labyrinthine cavern, and while they are in a pocket of air... their time is running out.

The ghost, if encountered, might actually prove helpful - he’s not a bad sort, just unfortunate. Of course, if he’s enlisted, he might latch on to an unfortunate investigator, who then gets saddled with his very own haunting...

3 The missing teenagers have watched a few too many horror movies and are hiding, planning to recreate the horror from the Friday the 13th series.

© 2007 Marius Incognito Blomkvist

Hands

It’s late one night on a particularly isolated stretch of road. The temperature begins to drop, and the driver suddenly senses that “something else” is in the car.

Image by artflow.ai

Suddenly, a pair of hairy Hands reach over and grasp the wheel, wrenching it from the driver’s control. The vehicle spins to a halt, narrowly missing some trees. Immediately the Hands vanish, having been there for mere seconds. A careful examination of the car reveals no anomalies.

The disembodied Hands are extremely strong. Each Hand has three sinewy fingers and a thumb, each sporting a talon or claw. The Hands usually appear attached to powerful forearms that disappear at the elbow. They never attack directly, but may operate machines, prod and shove people/objects and even scratch or write messages.

The Hands usually appear out of nowhere, work their evil, and then vanish abruptly.

Possibilities

1 The “Hairy Hands” are a popular local myth. The stretch of road in question is notorious for fatal accidents, and many survivors of accidents claim to have seen the hideous Hands. Legend states that a murderer was lynched on that spot 150 years ago - and that the spirit of the murderer lives on.

2 The vehicle itself is haunted. When it was very new, it struck and killed a young man, Frederick Winterbottom. Winterbottom himself dabbled in dubious occult arts and his spirit now haunts the car.

3 The Hands were a part of a deliberate attack by the remnants of a previously vanquished cult. Remaining members, seeking revenge, have summoned a black and terrible spirit to do their bloody deed. Part of the summoning ritual involved each cultist cutting off a hand. The Hands will not cease until revenge is complete.

(Inspired by the “hairy hands of Dartmoor”.)

© Rob Illing

The Ghost Bottle

It’s a clay bottle, sealed, marked with an inverted cross: a ghost bottle.

According to reliable texts, ghost bottles were used by exorcists in the 18th century to capture evil spirits. The bottles were then taken and the spirits either released where they could do no harm, or stored in specially prepared vaults.

Possibilities

1 This ghost bottle was recently created. The craft of constructing an effective ghost bottle is now known only to a few practitioners, and this one was constructed by Thaddeus Henge, of Henge & Croup Professional Services. (Their mark is stamped on the bottom of the bottle.)

The Burnett family hired Thaddeus Henge to help with a problem at Bellforth Hall. Peregrine Burnett, owner of Bellforth Hall and powerful occultist, had used a restless spirit to guard his extensive occult collection. With Burnett’s passing, the spirit had turned feral and Burnett’s descendants turned to Thaddeus Henge, modern exorcist, to deal with it.

Henge trapped the spirit in the ghost bottle, which now rests on the mantlepiece in Bellforth Hall’s entrance hall.

2 The bottle is part of a collection, one of twelve. Three bottles are sealed, two are broken and the others are all unused. The collection is secured within a fine oak box with a handles for carrying; the lid contains detailed instructions, annotated by its last owner, Chester Beale.

Beale was a 17th century occultist and, so it now seems, part-time exorcist. The collection was found during restoration works in a hidden cupboard in Hobford Grange, Beale’s Wiltshire home.

3 The bottle arrives in the post, securely wrapped. Accompanying it is a note:

Dear J——. I write to you following our long conversations last summer during which you expressed interest in Uncle Johann’s sudden interest in the occult during the summer of 1964. As you will remember, this obsession lasted no more than a few months, starting when the old De Monteford mausoleum was disturbed and ending in September of that year when Uncle Johann visited Keswick in the company of the singular Cordon Paine. Since then I have learned more about Cordon Paine and discovered that he was well known in the London alternative ‘scene’ and created quite a stir by hosting the most surreal and disturbing dinner parties. From what I understand, Paine was retained by the family to ‘cure’ Uncle Johann. Paine believed that Uncle Johann was possessed by a malign spirit released from the old mausoleum, and promised to rid him of it. To this end, they travelled to Cumbria and participated in some kind of ritual in the Castlerigg stone circle, above Keswick.  That was in September 1964, after which Uncle Johann mostly returned to his old self. I found the accompanying artefact, which matches the description of a ‘ghost bottle’ that Paine refers to in the Castlerigg ritual, while clearing Uncle Johann’s attic. I can only assume that this bottle contains the malign spirit that so possessed Uncle Johann and drove him to his obsession. I confess that since finding the dreadful thing I have not enjoyed a single night of unbroken sleep, and have suffered quite vivid dreams full of graves, cobwebs and horrid scratching noises. As you know I suffer from an overactive imagination, and given your interest in things outré I thought that it might find a better home with you. I trust you and yours are well. Best wishes, K——

© Steve Hatherley