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~ Julia O'Dowd~

Sweet Julia O'Dowd was the scullery maid of Marcheford Manor. A wide-eyed girl with a fondness for tales of romance. Mr. Marcheford forbade the servants from bringing strangers to the mansion, but Julia was in love with a young man from town. On Christmas Eve, she received a mysterious letter asking her to secretly meet him in the hedge maze. Slipping away from her kitchen duties, Julia waited and waited for her suitor. But alas, he never came. And when poor Julia was found on Christmas Day, she had frozen to death.

~ Jarvis Fitzpatrick ~

Jarvis Fitzpatrick, the butler, holds the record for the least amount of time alive at Marcheford Manor, no more than a week. The previous butler fled, without notice, under the cover of dark. He was unsettled by all the unusual deaths at the house, and harbored a growing distrust for his ex-employer. Alexander Marcheford was furious at the departure. He advertised for a new butler, but by then the house's reputation was well known in town and no one would apply. So the pay was increased to three times the normal amount, but still no man stepped forward... save for one.

It was an uncharacteristic move on Jarvis Fitzpatrick's part, and as time would tell, also an unwise one. Jarvis was a fidgety man, who jumped at shadows. He knew of the strange occurrences at the manor and honestly feared the place. But he also had dreams of opening his own millinery, and starting a business requires money. So pushing aside his better judgement, he accepted the position.

Jarvis, from the very start, didn't fit in well. He moved through the house tentatively. On his second day of the job he wrote a letter to his father, stating that, in his words, 'The mansion is pregnant with dread. I am constantly looking over my shoulder and my heart beats like a frightened rabbit.' ... Jarvis would be found, only days later, hanging in the garage. Some would speculate that it was his nerves that finally did him in. While others wonder if perhaps there wasn't a more sinister hand involved.

~ Horace Bickwell ~

Horace Bickwell was humorless man, set with a permanent scowl on his face. But a hard worker nonetheless. He was the manor's stable master and had been for many, many years. Before him, Horace's father was also the stable master. To this fact, he and Alexander Marcheford were the same age and had, as children, been friends. But time and the divide between social classes eventually ended the friendship.

Marcheford regarded his old chum with a certain coldness, and Horace resented him. But if there was anyone capable of melting the stable master's icy demeanor, it was the beautiful Eloise. Some speculate he may have had an unspoken love for her. When she died, he spoke few words and showed little emotion, but his heart was broken. He mourned, but did not know that soon he would follow his mistress. One fateful afternoon, Horace accidentally stumbled from the stable hay loft and impaled himself on a pitchfork, dying a terrible death.

~ Amelia and Sedrick Marcheford ~

For a brother and sister, Amelia and Sedrick Marcheford got along well. In fact, the two delighted in each other's company and were seldom seen apart.

To pass the hours, the children loved to play hide and seek. While their mother Eloise was alive, she saw to it that their games were confined to the 3rd floor of the manor so that they would be safe and wouldn't disturb their father Alexander's studies. Their father had seemed distant to the children before, but he became completely out of reach after their mother died. The manor staff tried to compensate for Eloise's absence, but many were consumed with grief themselves and some found Amelia especially a painful reminder of what had been lost. In this climate it was very easy for the children to slip away and they were free to roam the full length and breadth of the estate.

Amelia and Sedrick vanished one sunny afternoon during a game of hide and seek. Although the estate was searched from top to bottom and the grounds thoroughly combed, no remains were ever found.

It is now believed that some ill fate befell the children in the woods, as Amelia's hairbow was discovered many years later, weathered but neatly tied around the branch of a tree.

~ Rufus Tibideaux ~

Marcheford Manor had already long established itself as the place "not to be" when Rufus Tibideaux moved to the island. Rufus was a handsome playboy whose two focuses in life were women and motorcars. But he was also an arrogant young man and a terrible showoff. Hearing the stories of Marcheford, he regarded the tales as uneducated nonsense and ridiculed those who believed.

"I'll show you all." He was noted to say. "I'll spend the night there."

It would be a decision he wouldn't live to regret. When Tibideaux failed to return from the mansion, a reluctant group was put together to find him. In the grounds behind the manor, his clothing was found near the shore, as if he had removed them to go for a swim. But as for the man himself, there was no trace. It was decided to reopen the nearby boat house, which had been chained and locked for years. And to their horror, there on the dock lay the lifeless body of Rufus Tibideaux, still wet with sea water.

~ Travis Eberhardt ~

Eloise, being a gentle soul, loved all animals. But none meant more to her than her dogs. Four Irish wolfhounds she brought to the manor after marrying Alexander. He built the kennel for her, so that her pets would be properly housed. And Travis Eberhardt was hired to be their caretaker. Travis was a big man. A rough and rugged individual, whose frame was in equal proportion to the size of his heart. A kinder fellow you would be hard pressed to find.

After Eloise died, the children would continue to play with the dogs. But when Amelia and Sedrick disappeared, only Travis was left to love them. He approached Mr. Marcheford and asked for their ownership. He would be taking them off the property and leaving as well. Marcheford agreed, but only after being allowed to examine them one last time. For their health, he said. Eberhardt was unsure, but had little alternative.

The wolfhounds were returned and Travis prepared to leave. That night, just before sundown, a great commotion was heard from the kennel. Locked inside the small building, the canines had broken free of their cages and, with uncharacteristic viciousness, fatally mauled their only friend, Travis.

~ Sally Dupree ~

Sally Dupree was Amelia and Sedrick's tutor. While perusing the shelves of the Library in search of material to supplement her lessons one afternoon, she came across a curious-looking tome high upon one of the shelves. Leather-bound and aged, it bore the initials "A.M." and had strange symbols on its binding. She had a sudden pang of conscience that she shouldn't be snooping, but her curiosity got the best of her and she stretched, tippy-toed, to reach the mysterious book.

She managed to wriggle the top edge free from the tightly-packed shelf, and as she tipped it to pull it down she heard a sharp "Clink!" Something small and silver had fallen from the book and hit the floor. Then another sound -- footsteps! Shoving the book back up into its spot, she panicked and fumbled for the item that she'd caused to drop. Groping madly, her fingers finally connected with the object. "What is it?" she wondered, turning it in her hand. "An idol of some sort? A key?"

A third sound. The ominous creaking of the large standing shelf behind her, as it tipped towards her slight figure. With no time to get out of the way, Sally met her end as the weight of old wood and a hundred books crushed her frame.

~ Lawrence Paulson ~

As others breathe air, Lawrence Paulson breathed sophistication. He was a shrewd businessman who had made millions and enjoyed spending it on the finer things in life. Rare wines. Expensive pieces of art. Vacation houses on exotic islands. See where this is goin'? ... Lawrence and his young wife Ruby came to Menewsha hoping to find their perfect getaway. And they found that perfect home in the Marcheford Manor.

Oh the locals warned Lawrence and his flashy, little bride about Marcheford's history, but Paulson wouldn't be persuaded. "Progress can't be built on a foundation of superstition," he was famous for saying. And with that he demanded to be shown the manor.

No one in the nearby town would set foot on the property, so Lawrence and his wife were left to their own devices. Superstition may hinder progress, but sometimes it can save you life. When the Paulsons didn't return to their hotel, townsfolks feared the worst. Fears that weren't unfounded. In the ballroom they discovered Lawrence dead, his face contorted into a grinning mask of madness.

~ Cara Ellison ~

The months following the death of Eloise Marcheford were difficult for everyone, and the kitchen staff was no exception. They say each person processes grief differently; for Cara Ellison, it was pouring herself into her work that enabled her some semblance of relief from the deep sorrow she felt. Creating new recipes for the remaining household became something of a personal crusade for her, and she began to seek rarer and stranger ingredients with which to ply her craft. With each successful creation she felt a little more whole, and so she couldn't help but continue.

It was with a slight hint of madness that Cara envisioned her final masterpiece: a complex stew, made with the finest meats, imported spices, and vegetables from near and far. For her final ingredient, Cara disobeyed a longstanding house rule and trespassed into Mr. Marcheford's private garden to collect from unfamiliar herbs to add to the stew. As it brewed and bubbled, a curiously bitter aroma wafted into the air and Cara felt that she was at the threshhold of closure. A quick taste confirmed that she had created something truly unique. All that remained was to serve this glorious dish to the household, and then she would finally be at peace.

Unfortunately, that unfamiliar herb proved to be the deadly poison that would end Cara's life, forever binding her spirit in unrest as she attempts in vain to serve her final meal to souls long departed.

~ Cordelia Hunt and BFF Becky ~

Tired of being dismissed by her peers as a "spoiled rich girl," Cordelia Hunt called on her best friend Becky (who was always up for anything) and set out to prove them wrong by spending the night in the haunted Manor. After an uneventful exploration of the first floor, the two made their way down to the Wine Cellar and sat on a bench to rest their feet.

Cordelia sighed, bored. Stretching her arms and yawning, Becky leaned back against a cask and heard the liquid splosh inside. "Ooh!!" she squealed, "Do you think it's still good?" Noticing two wooden cups conveniently placed on a table beside the cask, Cordelia shrugged to her friend. "Let's find out!"

Somewhere around the fourth or seventh cup, Cordelia turned to her BFF and said, "Omigosh Becky, this wine is nasty! It tastes like salt, and -- and copper pennies!"

The coroner's report would list "alcohol poisoning" as the cause of death, but Cordelia and Becky's antics have become something of an urban legend. The word among the youth is that the official report is a cover-up, and that the girls had actually died from drinking gallons of human blood.

~ Spencer Whitehill ~

There were few, if any, who could claim to the know the inner-workings of Alexander Marcheford's mind. One wonders if even his most beloved, Eloise, knew. He kept most people at arm's length and allowed near no one into his world. One exception was Spencer Whitehill, Marcheford's footman. He was the servant with whom Alexander interacted the most and even assisted inside the basement laboratory, which was off limits to everyone else.

Various dealings with his employer aside, Spencer was a loner. He was regarded as a snob by the rest of the staff, considering himself above them. In the months following Eloise's death, Whitehill found himself spending more and more time with Marcheford in the hidden basement rooms. But soon his demeanor began to change. He was troubled and seemed to be losing his usual confidence. ... Whitehill's last day came abruptly. Marcheford claimed he found the man dead, having accidentally ingested some chemicals being used on the experimental rats. This occurred in the 'Subject Room', as Alexander referred to it. Others would call it.. the dungeon.

~ Jacob Balliwick ~

Calling Jacob Balliwick the maintenance man slow-witted would be a kindness. Truth was he didn't have the mental faculties that god gave a rabid woodchuck. But what he lacked in smarts he made up with an almost savant-like ability to repair anything that needed fixing.

In the weeks following Eloise's death, the weather on the island was chillier than usual. On one particularly nippy night, the boiler, for some odd reason, suddenly gave out. Mr. Marcheford summoned his maintenance man and demanded that it be fixed immediately. Usually not easy for someone without two thoughts to rub together, but for Jacob a simple task. No one can be too sure what happened next. The other servants heard a blood-curdling shout and rushed down to the basement. Throwing open the boiler room door, they found Jacob, flailing about, engulfed in flames. He was promptly put out, but did not live long after. In the aftermath, Alexander Marcheford lamented he would need to buy a new boiler.

~ Henriette Garvin ~

When Eloise became the lady of Marcheford Manor, she brought along her most trusted maid, Henriette Garvin. The relationship between the two women surpassed that of servant and employer. Eloise considered Henriette to be her best friend and most trusted confidante.

When Eloise died, it was a devastating blow to Henriette. But as a strong and self-assured woman, she resolved to stay on at Marcheford and serve the family her departed friend loved so much. The only downside, it seemed, was having to deal with Boris, the Chef.

Boris was madly infatuated with the pretty, blonde maid. But his boorish nature and wild temper repelled her. On the day of her unfortunate demise, Cara Ellison, the serving girl, overheard Boris rambling to himself about Henriette finally confessing her love. Cara confronted her about this, which Henriette strongly denied. "I'll have to set him straight, once and for all." She was remarked to say.

It would be the last thing she'd ever do. That nights, the household was awoken by screams coming from the basement. Searching the laundry room, they found poor Henriette dead, a stab wound through her heart.

~ Charlotte Avery ~

After Eloise Marcheford had fallen ill and all manner of traditional medicines had failed to help her, her husband turned to other means of healing. He commissioned a talented young harpist named Charlotte Avery to come to the Manor and play for Eloise, hoping that a turn in her spirits might enable her to get well.

Charlotte played for Eloise for countless hours in the days leading up to her death. She remained by her bedside long into the night, playing her harp until her blistered fingers could pull the strings no more. On the morning of Eloise's death, servants gone to rouse Charlotte would find that she too had passed away mysteriously in her sleep. They say the haunting melodies that were played on that final night can still be heard in the hallways of the Manor to this day.

~ Ruby Paulson ~

On her thirteenth birthday, Ruby Paulson's mother offered up a piece of advice that would stick with the girl for the rest of her life. "Marry for money, baby. Love can move mountains, but it can't make diamonds." And that's what she did.

Ruby was as sharp as a pillowcase, but an impossibly, beautiful young woman, who was just cunning enough to know how to bend men to her will. And she found the perfect payout in Lawrence Paulson, a man who demanded the best. And there was no better trophy wife than Ruby.

Now no one can say for sure what happened at Marcheford that day. Authorities found Mr. Paulson deceased in the ballroom, his visage twisted with insanity. As for Ruby, she was discovered upstairs in the fainting room. She lay on her stomach, a bottle of smelling salts not too far away. Turning her over, police were horrified to find the same expression of madness on her face.

~ Dr. Morris Fossen ~

To call Dr. Morris Fossen "clumsy" would be an understatement; the man was responsible for no less than 42 broken bones over the course of his medical career -- 7 of them his own. Not the greatest of credentials, but in times of crisis one could hardly afford to be selective.

Dr. Fossen came to the Manor to assist during an outbreak of a highly infectious unknown illness that plagued the house staff two years after Eloise Marcheford passed away. When the cough and fever had progressed such that it seemed a patient was beyond all hope of recovery, Dr. Fossen and his nurse would carry them by stretcher from the 3rd floor Sick Room all the way down to the Basement Laboratory. The more optimistic staff would believe that this was done to spare the recovering from witnessing death, but others were sure they heard the sound of large objects tumbling down the stairs and screams of torture from the floors below them late at night.

Dr. Morris' cause of death is unknown, but his ghost is said to wander along that same path, carrying "parts" of his unfortunate patients from the 3rd floor to the basement.

~ Eulaila Greene ~

Eulaila Greene was nanny to the two Marcheford children. Though in some respects still only a girl herself, Eulaila was a kind-hearted and intelligent young woman. She loved Amelia and Sedrick, and helped them through their mother's illness and eventual death. After Mrs. Marcheford died, she recognized that the children needed their father more than anything and told him so. But Mr. Marcheford was preoccupied with his own grief, stowed away in his laboratory.

When her two young charges disappeared, it was a devastating blow to Eulaila. With them gone, there was nothing left for her at the manor and she prepared to leave. She was known to have trouble sleeping and would, from time to time, take a little laudanum before bed. On the morning of her departure, after attempts to rouse her were met with no response, she was found missing from her room. The adjacent door stood open, and in the Nursery, on Sedrick's bed, Eulaila lay dead, the empty bottle of laudanum at her side.

~ Georgetta Amos ~

Georgetta Amos was an ambitious, if unscrupulous, fashion designer who sought above all else to make a name for herself. When Alexander Marcheford put out the call for a one-of-a-kind tailored burial gown for his beloved and recently-departed wife Eloise, Georgetta jumped at the chance to make herself known.

Those who sought the contract were to meet at the Sewing Room of the Manor, to show their designs to Mr. Marcheford's assistant for approval. Georgetta had been working all night at getting her dress just right - even studying a portrait of Eloise to be sure she captured the feel and colors of her wedding gown - but she still felt it needed "oomph." She held the dress up to her chest and looked in the mirror, and it hit her in a flash: Georgetta looked a lot like Eloise. Same hair, same complexion.. In fact, if it weren't for the eyes, she'd almost be a spitting image.

So it was that Georgetta showed up to the Manor wearing the dress she had fashioned for a dead woman. Despite sharp looks from the staff, she was feeling pretty pleased with herself, and as she stood at the foot of the 3rd floor staircase, she remembered to don the silk blindfold she had fashioned for maximum impact. Though she could hardly see a thing, she confidently marched up the stairway to show off her design. At the top step, she heard a sharp whistle beside her and startled a moment, turning her head towards the noise. Something jerked hard on the back of her blindfold then, and she toppled backward down the stairwell, breaking her spine in a mad tangle of skirts and hair and limbs.

~ Boris Marinova ~

Of all the staff of Marcheford Manor, the one that was not to be crossed was Boris Marinova, the chef. Originally from Bulgaria, Boris honed his skills at the finest culinary institutions throughout Europe. He was a genius at what he did, but also, everyone agreed, a bit unhinged. Prone to temper tantrums, the kitchen help knew to do as they were told and stay out of his way.

When Alexander Marcheford married Eloise, she brought along her maid, Henriette. Boris was immediately smitten with the woman and attempted to woo her. But Henriette, put off by his temper and brash manner, spurned his advances. Each 'no', though, only served to fuel the flames of his desire.

All this came to a head one day when in town Boris boasted that he had finally received a declaration of Henriette's love. That night, the household was awakened by screams. They rushed to the laundry room, where they discovered poor Henriette dead, stabbed to death. Knowing that Boris had been pursuing the pretty blonde maid, they searched the house for him. He was found in Henriette's bedroom, clutching her picture, his kitchen knife plunged in his heart.

~ Thom Wallace ~
Thom Wallace was a kindly old man with a talent for gardening. Due to an accident in his boyhood, he'd lost his hearing long ago. He hadn't been able to speak well since then, so for the most part he just didn't speak at all. Much of his life, people mistook his silence for dimwittedness, and he was treated rather poorly as a result.

Thom found an unlikely friend in young Amelia Marcheford. Little Amelia adored roses, as did Thom. He'd made a habit of picking a small bouquet for her each day, which he'd give to her when she inevitably "hid" from her brother in the rose garden during one of their games of hide and seek. The bouquets were always received with giggles of delight, and their brief meetings were something Thom quite looked forward to.

When Amelia and Sedrick disappeared, Thom sank into a deep depression. Rather than tend his roses down on the manor grounds, he spent his time on the terrace, pacing back and forth uttering incoherencies and staring off towards the Woods.

Thom was found out on the terrace, having suffered a heart attack. He lay on his side with his face turned toward the Woods, cheeks moist with tears and a small bouquet of white roses clutched in his hand.

~ Sorcha Leven ~
Sorcha Leven billed herself a "World Class Psychic." With people dropping like flies in the Manor, a desperate housekeeping staff pooled their apron change and hired her to divine the source of the trouble in hopes that they'd finally be able to put whatever-it-was to rest.

Upon arrival at the Manor, Sorcha pulled a long polished bone from a velvet pouch and began waving it around theatrically, chanting aloud in a strange tongue. She was "pulled" this way and that in her colorful skirts as her divination dragged her around the house. Zig-zagging upward with a handful of curious housekeepers in tow, she arrived finally at the door to the Attic Storage room. Shoving open the door with one chubby hand, she boldly proclaimed, "THIS is where we shall hold the seance!"

She whipped out a swatch of purple fabric and lay it atop a pile of boxes, kicking up an awful cloud of dust. The coughing fit that ensued was even more dramatic than her earlier performance, and though she passed rather quickly from an asthma attack, it took the butler poking her good and hard with his cane for the staff to believe she was really dead.

~ Millicent Lollyworth ~
Millicent Lollyworth, a distant relative of Eloise Marcheford, only wanted to enjoy her tea in quiet solitude. With the recent passing of her cousin twice-removed, however, the house was a flurry of activity and her usual perch in the Fainting Room was occupied by a mourning aunt. Growing impatient, she shuffled from hallway to hallway until she came upon the Sauna, where she was relieved to discover that not a soul was present.

Perhaps it was the heat of the room, the stress of the day's events, or simply a corset fastened a bit too tightly.. But Millicent began to feel the tingle in her spine, and then the tiny twinkling lights in her peripheral vision appeared -- those familiar, telltale signs that she was about to faint. As her unconscious body collapsed, her tea splashed to the ground and her head hit the sauna bench at just the right angle to snap her neck, killing her instantly.

~ Hunter Puget ~
Hunter Puget holds the unfortunate distinction of being Marcheford's most recent victim. Time tends to temper the weight of fear. The 21st century had dawned, and to the neighboring town's younger generation the stories of the manor had become less cautionary tale and more urban legend. Kids still feared the mansion, but there was an edge of fun to that fear.

Hunter was was your average teen. He loved music and enjoyed hanging out with his friends. One day, he and his pals got to talking about Marcheford. "I wouldn't go up there for a million gold," said his friend Todd. "You're sad. It's all just talk" Hunter replied. "If you're so brave, why don't you spend the night there?" Friend Richie added.

Now no young man wants to be seen as a coward in the eyes of his friend, so he agreed. The last Todd and Richie saw of him, he pulled on his headphones, climbed the rusted gate and disappeared from view. When Hunter didn't reappear the next day, authorities were sent to search the property. The house was checked from the bottom up, and at the very top, in the Dark Room, Hunter was found... dead. The coroner attributed the teen's demise to sudden cardiac arrest. But others say he died of fright.