EVIL HISTORY

1958 - It was an exceptionally cold and moonless October night as Mary Banner, a local teenager, walked home from a friends Halloween party. She lived a few, short blocks away and regularly enjoyed this very same walk, drinking in the fresh evening air.

Not far down the street, roughly midpoint between the two properties, Mr. Norman Deville had recently built a beautiful two-story home. It was here during her journey that she stopped a moment to admire the landscape and architecture of the neighborhood’s new addition as she had since the first day of construction. The quiet, black night gave the, usually towering and regal estate, an eerie, tortured feeling that entranced her and seemed to coincide so beautifully with the spirit of the season. It was during this moment of contemplation that she failed to notice the car approaching from behind. Her long, black hair and dark, unassuming costume were perfectly designed to conceal the young woman’s already slight frame. Perhaps, too perfectly. The car struck Mary from behind and, without so much as a falter, sped away. The impact threw her across the shallow ditch fringing the new estate and up into Mr. Deville’s yard. The frigid evening air came crashing in on the helpless teen, and was shortly swallowed up by the racking pain of injuries she knew must be severe, but prayed were only imaginary. Her first breath drawn to plead for help served only to prove her fears and announce her peril in a more drastic way as another wave of pain, and horror, overtook her.

Broken and unable to command control of her abused frame, Mary pleaded into the darkness for help from anybody who might be able to hear. The soft laughter and rowdy banter of local kids on their way home to divide the spoils of another successful Halloween, only mocked her tortured mind. She cried to them and begged of them, but they paid her little heed, all assuming this to be yet another Halloween gag. Yet, she did manage to get the attention of Mrs. Deville, who also thought the ghastly moans and entreaties for help were merely pranks carried on by a few straggling trick-or-treaters. Mrs. Deville replied to the guttural sounds and rasping cries with threats and an order to go away. After a few minutes more of screaming, begging, and pleading, silence once again fell over the grounds. Mrs. Deville assumed that the kids had finally given up on the prank and gone away. The next morning revealed a very different and horrifying story. Mr. Deville discovered Mary’s broken and lifeless body laying in the front yard.

The rogue driver was never found, but according to local legend, on the anniversary of her death, October 31st, her restless spirit arises from the unknown and wanders the property that was once known as Deville Manor. The legend tells how Mary appears in order to take revenge on her killer as well as haunt the lives of those who wouldn’t help, the home owner and any unsuspecting soul who might wander too close to the grounds.

Whether or not there is any truth to it, I don’t know, but locals have reported moans of pain as well as cries for help from the property on Halloween night. Every Halloween night. As is true with all local legends, time has changed the story some and the Deville Manor is now commonly referred to as The Evil Manor. However, the sightings of Mary’s spirit as well as her ghostly cries remain unchanged.