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The town of Bristol was known for its tranquility and peace. A small town on a mountain full of animals, farms, and fields that made the sky look more beautiful and blue than anywhere else.
Little did they know that on the morning of April 7th they would encounter a mystery too disturbing for them that would break the peace of that town, turning it into a gloomy place that no one wanted to hear about.
That day the mayor who was already 80 years old and had been the co-founder of the town died, he was possibly the only one left of these old founders, that morning he did not go out as usual, so the doctors went to see what was wrong. When the policemen and doctors of the town came in, there was among them an unknown doctor of about 87 years old; at that moment they saw the scene, Mayor Taylor had died, and his body was lying on the table, as white as snow, something inexplicable for all those who observed, and those who later found out by word of mouth.
After that April 7, the animals were neglected, strangely they became wild, and the crops began to die, people were afraid and almost did not leave home, many even sold their farms and houses for much less than the price just to flee from that town that seemed to be cursed. And they even claimed that it was due to the death of Mayor Taylor, mentioning that death was still in town and was looking for more people to take away.
Pixabay by Suju-Foto
Private detective Matthew Hernandez, a Mexican by birth, was used to strange cases. He had investigated serial killers, kidnappers and senseless murders. But nothing in his past seemed to have prepared him for the Bristol haunted house case.
It all started when neighbors on the street began to talk about the strange phenomena occurring in the house. Mysterious noises were heard, sinister shadows were seen moving through the halls and there was a sense of dread in the air, it seemed that the rumors were no longer mere legends and that in fact paranormal things did exist in real life.
Matthew cared little for these situations, he believed that these things were just legends and that as long as they could prove otherwise he feared nothing, so he arrived at the house with his investigation team. He was equipped with surveillance cameras, night vision instruments and a tape recorder to disprove any false abnormal sounds.
During the first hours of the investigation, he found nothing out of the ordinary. But suddenly, when he was concentrating on analyzing the files concerning the case (10 sheets of paper with no useful information, and even a picture taken by an infant of his own blurred hand), all of a sudden all the lights in the house came on, and strange noises started to be heard, like the wailing of a soul in pain. A scene worthy of fear that would make anyone flee forever. A shiver ran up Matthew's leg to the back of his neck, but this would not deter him, was he really facing an invisible presence that would haunt them all night long?
Pixabay by Mysticsartdesign
Matthew fought against that slight feeling of possible fear, but his expert instinct told him that something was not what it seemed. He began to investigate the house, but more paranormal things became visible; but little by little he began to search and discovered that the noises were produced by a steam engine in the basement. This place also had a large gallery of costumes, so he followed the trail left by all these matters, and that's how he discovered that the invisible presence was a theater actress hired by the owner of the house to give it a touch of mystery.
Tying all these ends together, he could then define that the culprit was Taylor and that she had simply faked her death, everything seemed to indicate this, so when he caught the actress and left her at the police station while he solved the mystery of why such a spectacle had been put on. He went directly to the morgue and hoped not to get the body of the mayor and thus solve the mystery where he now had to look for him and understand everything.
But when he arrived at the morgue, his surprise was that Taylor was indeed there, he had died on April 7 in a strange way from a heart attack while having breakfast, everything was completely correct, a plan without apparent error. But, the thing was… who was paying the actress to plot such a terror among the people? What was the purpose? Why had she done it?
Pixabay by William68
Matthew returned to leave the body in its place, it had already been prepared by the unknown doctor who had discovered it and who was possibly his personal physician, but who had already left town. The others from the hospital remained, only waiting for the detective's order to proceed to give him his dignified burial. The mystery had been solved, but.... why? was still up in the air.
When Matthew discovered the truth behind the haunted house, the entire town was shocked. The neighbors, who once feared the house, now considered it a place of amusement.
That curse, which affected plants and animals, was only the carelessness of each owner due to fear, so in a short time everything returned to its beautiful normality. Mateo had solved part of the case, but the real mystery of why the house was haunted was something that would continue to intrigue him for many years.
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