Music: Majestic Nature by Craig Stuart Garfinkle Artwork by Steve English The script: Episode 2 - The Malevolent Darkness The Manor was always a little strange. Beautiful as it was - a Tudor manor house set in the idyllic scenery of the North Yorks Moors, it was still considered by anyone who knew it as a place to be avoided. At the start, it was little more than a feeling, a sense that something wasn’t quite right. But then, as time pasted, that sense of things not being right developed into a sure knowledge that something was wrong. Something in or maybe with the Manor just wasn’t right. Quite how long this feeling lasted, I have no idea, that’s lost in the annals of time. Yet, I do know how it started to show itself - because you can’t hide darkness in your inner being. If there is darkness inside, as sure as eggs is eggs, it’s going to come out. And, that’s precisely what happened in the Manor. Maybe it’s a little unfair to blame the Manor itself as in all probability, it wasn’t the Manor so much as something coming to live in the Manor that brought that feeling of unease. Yet, as time past, the sense of it being something other than the Manor faded, until it felt like it was the Manor – as if whatever it was that caused all these problems had become one with the Manor. Where the darkness arrived from and how it came to live in the Manor are stories for another time. But, for this story, it’s enough to know that the darkness lived in the Manor and to all intense and purposes - it was the Manor. As the darkness grew and began to be absorbed into the very fabric of the building, it started to show itself as small things changed. (P) Items that belonged in one place would turn up in another, and it wasn’t just little things. In time, whole rooms would relocate to different parts of the Manor. Then, the Manor itself started to change. Once, it had been beautiful to look at, and no doubt - generations of the wealthy and privileged had basked in the glory of the Manor, its rooms, its gardens and its opulence. Until that is, that beauty started to fade. For, as I said before, you can’t hide what’s inside. Because, it seemed, there was darkness in the very bones of the Manor - as over time it transformed from a beautiful country house into a particularly nasty and creepy little castle. A castle that was always changing, always transforming and never at rest. After all, isn’t it said that there’s no rest for the wicked? Of course, the people who owned, lived and worked in the Manor didn’t miss out on the effects of the darkness. As soon as they realised what was happening, they tried to sell the place, and at one point they even wanted to abandon it. But, the family who lived there – the Briggswath’s – were unable to leave. Every attempt to sell fell through, financial problems ensured they stayed to try and work the land. But when they almost gave up and decided to abandon the place, somehow it knew. Every way they went ended up returning them to the same place because the Manor wouldn’t let them go. Then, as well as the Manor and the things inside it changing, the people and their pets also started to be affected. The Briggswath’s had been a beautiful family, the daughters quickly married and sons longed for by others from far and wide – until they weren’t. Beauty turned around, packed up its bags and left, leaving each successive generation more affected by the darkness. Even their pets were affected, and none more than their beloved border terriers. The Briggswath’s had kept border terriers since before they were kennel club registered, and although they were working dogs, it didn’t take long for them to work their way into the hearts of the Briggwath’s and so become family pets. At first, the border terriers had become harder to groom. Their features became a little more extreme with each new generation, even when fresh blood was brought in from outside. Yet they were still dearly loved - with a bond... Support this podcast
