Snork Maiden
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2002
- Posts
- 3,466
OOC:
This is a closed thread for Delicious Maiden, Graybread, Prometheus and Myself.
Please feel free to read along as we start our journey and I hope you enjoy
Snork
Old Orchard Beach - A Ghost Story.
The civil war had been a trying time for many of the men from Southern Maine, but on June 27th 1864 at great relief to the men, the ten companies where mustered out.
Three years of bloody butchery haunted many of the surviving men, the 5th Maine having been involved in most of the major battles engaged in by the Army of the Potomac and during the course of that time, they had been involved in twenty-two major battles capturing more flags than all the other Maine units combined. Something that inspired great pride in their hearts, yet the losses had been high over 200 of the original volunteers had died trough either wounds or disease.
For Edward St-John, the end of the war left him empty. Many of his comrades and friends had fallen for the cause. Even returning once more to his family homestead brought little joy, nor the smiling face of his three and half year old daughter Eleanor or his wife Marie. These too had been victims of the war. His heart filled with the regret of not having seen his baby girl grow from her infancy, not having been around to help his wife.
---------
Marie St John, had married young into the wealthy St-John dynasty. Having come from a large farming family to the west of the Portland area, she was used to hardships and long hours of work. She had met Edward during a visit to Portland one market day back in 1859. A trip she often made with her father, to sell the fresh picked corn and gathered squash grown on their smallholding. More often the items were bartered from stall to stall in an almost medieval fashion, but sometimes they would tour the streets of Portland selling the corn directly to householders.
Edward had been captivated at once by the freshness of her complexion and large brown eyes, wide and bright, as if lit from behind by tiny candles. Her cheerful smile and tussled straw-colored hair, stirred something in his loins. For several weeks he was compelled every market day to seek out that cart, until finally, he drew up the courage to engage her in conversation. If it were her looks had first attracted him, it was her voice captivated him. Like a mythical siren, he knew that from that point his heart was doomed to desire only one woman.
The courtship had been brief. Maria’s father, delighted to have his daughter married into the respected St-John family gave the couple his blessing readily, and 1 year after the marriage their union had been blessed by the cherub Eleanor. Edward doted on his baby daughter and lavished his wife with fine clothes and dresses. He bought the large manor house in Ocean Park shortly after Maria’s 19th birthday and the small family settled into the great Victorian house overlooking the sandy beaches of Old Orchard Beach
For Maria it was like a fairytale, the house to her was as big as a crystal palace and the gardens, which extended from the back of the house to the cliffs edge were filled with exotic blooms and shrubs from around the world.
Then War had come. Edward volunteered immediately when the 10 companies of the 5th Maine Infantry were mustered and having been born into a wealthy family, he was given the rank of Lieutenant in F company. His decision to join the 5th Maine Volunteers had upset Maria, but she loved her new husband dearly and respected his decision.
The War kept the couple apart without respite, and Maria would spend her days often sitting in the magnolia filled gardens with the infant Eleanor. She would read the letters her husband sent back from the front to the little girl longing for his return. As the years passed Eleanor grew from the bonny fair-haired babe into a cheerful, giggling and chatty toddler. Maria would sit and tell the little girl about her brave Papa, longing herself, for his return and praying nightly to the Lord to keep him safe.
Edward’s return filled Maria’s heart with joy. She ached for the arms of the man she love to hold her, to feel his warm body against her own once more, to share her bed with a man in place of the empty space she had become accustomed too. But the nights of passion she yearned for where not to be. Edward’s sleep was filled with nightmares, often he would wake up, the sheets drenched with perspiration and his face filled with fear. She would talk to him calmly; easing him back into a light troubled sleep.
As the months passed after his return, Edward slowly began to ease from his depression, the nightmares faded and a normal family life began to ensue. Marie kept the house bright and fresh, decorating each room with flowers from the garden and the house was filled with the squeals of laughter from Eleanor as her Father at last began to catch up on the missed years.
Even though he didn’t need to, Edward felt he need to find work. He had trained as a accountant before the war and had considered starting his own firm. Marie encouraged him in his ventures and in 1867 he set up an office in Ocean Park. His timing was impeccable, The recently completed Boston and Maine Railroad was bringing more and more visitors from Montreal, as the Canadians sort Summer respite on the glorious seven miles of unbroken sandy beaches which stretched out along the southern main coastline. Old Orchard Beach was booming.
The past seemed long distant, their future bright, and the couple considered expanding the family. Then tragedy struck. Late one winters evening as the couple lay together enjoying each other’s company, a fire broke out. The flames quickly engulfed the whole of the upper floor. No one ever knew the real cause though it was suspected that the fire was started in young Eleanor’s room.
The nightlight had been knocked to the floor as she had turned restlessly in her sleep. The oil spilled and ignited. The child had suffocated from the thick fumes before she could cry out, silenced screams that would have alerted her parents to the danger. By the time Edward and Marie realised the house was ablaze it was too late, they were themselves trapped.
Edward had tried to fight his way through the flames to rescue Eleanor, but the heat and fumes over came him and he collapsed in the hallway his body consumed in the inferno that raged and ran around the walls and back down from the ceiling. The air filled with thick, choking black smoke. Marie’s face was streaked with tears and filled with fear, her screams hysterical until the fumes burnt her lungs and caused her too, to pass into unconsciousness.
The house stood abandoned for over 15 years until the mid 1890’s. It was at this time that electrification came to Old Orchard Beach and with it new influx of amusements and tourists. The first funfair was built and the town began to expand, once more becoming more popular to visitors. Property prices began to rise, and the old St-John house started to become an interesting investment for local entrepreneurs. The house was rebuilt and refurbished and opened as the Orchard View Boarding house in 1898. At first things went well for the proprietors, it commanding location and spacious luxurious rooms were often fully booked seasons in advance. Then the mysterious events started to happen. Guests would report strange sensations at night, noises and the feeling of being touched or brushed. Pretty soon the house’s reputation for being haunted became more an attraction than it’s homely amenities. But it was a short-lived amusement following a series of mysterious ‘rapes’ reported to have occurred in some of the guestrooms at the turn of the century.
By the 1930’s, the house was once more in decline – the booming economy promoted by the earlier war in Europe had passed. The country was headed into deep recession and the owners sold up and moved west. The house attracted little attention passing through a series of owners, by the end of the 1970’s and over a hundred years old it had fallen into a state of ill repair. It had a few prospective buyers but remained vacant and weather worn until it finally came to the attention of a young couple looking for a change in lifestyle.
And so a new story begins………..
This is a closed thread for Delicious Maiden, Graybread, Prometheus and Myself.
Please feel free to read along as we start our journey and I hope you enjoy
Snork
Old Orchard Beach - A Ghost Story.
The civil war had been a trying time for many of the men from Southern Maine, but on June 27th 1864 at great relief to the men, the ten companies where mustered out.
Three years of bloody butchery haunted many of the surviving men, the 5th Maine having been involved in most of the major battles engaged in by the Army of the Potomac and during the course of that time, they had been involved in twenty-two major battles capturing more flags than all the other Maine units combined. Something that inspired great pride in their hearts, yet the losses had been high over 200 of the original volunteers had died trough either wounds or disease.
For Edward St-John, the end of the war left him empty. Many of his comrades and friends had fallen for the cause. Even returning once more to his family homestead brought little joy, nor the smiling face of his three and half year old daughter Eleanor or his wife Marie. These too had been victims of the war. His heart filled with the regret of not having seen his baby girl grow from her infancy, not having been around to help his wife.
---------
Marie St John, had married young into the wealthy St-John dynasty. Having come from a large farming family to the west of the Portland area, she was used to hardships and long hours of work. She had met Edward during a visit to Portland one market day back in 1859. A trip she often made with her father, to sell the fresh picked corn and gathered squash grown on their smallholding. More often the items were bartered from stall to stall in an almost medieval fashion, but sometimes they would tour the streets of Portland selling the corn directly to householders.
Edward had been captivated at once by the freshness of her complexion and large brown eyes, wide and bright, as if lit from behind by tiny candles. Her cheerful smile and tussled straw-colored hair, stirred something in his loins. For several weeks he was compelled every market day to seek out that cart, until finally, he drew up the courage to engage her in conversation. If it were her looks had first attracted him, it was her voice captivated him. Like a mythical siren, he knew that from that point his heart was doomed to desire only one woman.
The courtship had been brief. Maria’s father, delighted to have his daughter married into the respected St-John family gave the couple his blessing readily, and 1 year after the marriage their union had been blessed by the cherub Eleanor. Edward doted on his baby daughter and lavished his wife with fine clothes and dresses. He bought the large manor house in Ocean Park shortly after Maria’s 19th birthday and the small family settled into the great Victorian house overlooking the sandy beaches of Old Orchard Beach
For Maria it was like a fairytale, the house to her was as big as a crystal palace and the gardens, which extended from the back of the house to the cliffs edge were filled with exotic blooms and shrubs from around the world.
Then War had come. Edward volunteered immediately when the 10 companies of the 5th Maine Infantry were mustered and having been born into a wealthy family, he was given the rank of Lieutenant in F company. His decision to join the 5th Maine Volunteers had upset Maria, but she loved her new husband dearly and respected his decision.
The War kept the couple apart without respite, and Maria would spend her days often sitting in the magnolia filled gardens with the infant Eleanor. She would read the letters her husband sent back from the front to the little girl longing for his return. As the years passed Eleanor grew from the bonny fair-haired babe into a cheerful, giggling and chatty toddler. Maria would sit and tell the little girl about her brave Papa, longing herself, for his return and praying nightly to the Lord to keep him safe.
Edward’s return filled Maria’s heart with joy. She ached for the arms of the man she love to hold her, to feel his warm body against her own once more, to share her bed with a man in place of the empty space she had become accustomed too. But the nights of passion she yearned for where not to be. Edward’s sleep was filled with nightmares, often he would wake up, the sheets drenched with perspiration and his face filled with fear. She would talk to him calmly; easing him back into a light troubled sleep.
As the months passed after his return, Edward slowly began to ease from his depression, the nightmares faded and a normal family life began to ensue. Marie kept the house bright and fresh, decorating each room with flowers from the garden and the house was filled with the squeals of laughter from Eleanor as her Father at last began to catch up on the missed years.
Even though he didn’t need to, Edward felt he need to find work. He had trained as a accountant before the war and had considered starting his own firm. Marie encouraged him in his ventures and in 1867 he set up an office in Ocean Park. His timing was impeccable, The recently completed Boston and Maine Railroad was bringing more and more visitors from Montreal, as the Canadians sort Summer respite on the glorious seven miles of unbroken sandy beaches which stretched out along the southern main coastline. Old Orchard Beach was booming.
The past seemed long distant, their future bright, and the couple considered expanding the family. Then tragedy struck. Late one winters evening as the couple lay together enjoying each other’s company, a fire broke out. The flames quickly engulfed the whole of the upper floor. No one ever knew the real cause though it was suspected that the fire was started in young Eleanor’s room.
The nightlight had been knocked to the floor as she had turned restlessly in her sleep. The oil spilled and ignited. The child had suffocated from the thick fumes before she could cry out, silenced screams that would have alerted her parents to the danger. By the time Edward and Marie realised the house was ablaze it was too late, they were themselves trapped.
Edward had tried to fight his way through the flames to rescue Eleanor, but the heat and fumes over came him and he collapsed in the hallway his body consumed in the inferno that raged and ran around the walls and back down from the ceiling. The air filled with thick, choking black smoke. Marie’s face was streaked with tears and filled with fear, her screams hysterical until the fumes burnt her lungs and caused her too, to pass into unconsciousness.
The house stood abandoned for over 15 years until the mid 1890’s. It was at this time that electrification came to Old Orchard Beach and with it new influx of amusements and tourists. The first funfair was built and the town began to expand, once more becoming more popular to visitors. Property prices began to rise, and the old St-John house started to become an interesting investment for local entrepreneurs. The house was rebuilt and refurbished and opened as the Orchard View Boarding house in 1898. At first things went well for the proprietors, it commanding location and spacious luxurious rooms were often fully booked seasons in advance. Then the mysterious events started to happen. Guests would report strange sensations at night, noises and the feeling of being touched or brushed. Pretty soon the house’s reputation for being haunted became more an attraction than it’s homely amenities. But it was a short-lived amusement following a series of mysterious ‘rapes’ reported to have occurred in some of the guestrooms at the turn of the century.
By the 1930’s, the house was once more in decline – the booming economy promoted by the earlier war in Europe had passed. The country was headed into deep recession and the owners sold up and moved west. The house attracted little attention passing through a series of owners, by the end of the 1970’s and over a hundred years old it had fallen into a state of ill repair. It had a few prospective buyers but remained vacant and weather worn until it finally came to the attention of a young couple looking for a change in lifestyle.
And so a new story begins………..
