I have always known that the building I was purchasing to turn into a haunt was special.  It had been built sometime before 1880 and even though so much of its history has been lost in time, there are echoes of its past that seem to occassionally return and which I feel that I should document.  While I have heard things throughout the building that have defied explanation, such as footsteps and whispers, something else more tangible has been happening.  Objects have been appearing on the upper steps of the main staircase leading to the second floor.  The first was a small tin horse.  I picked it up off of one of the stairs and thought little of it at the time.  But now I found another object that is quite a bit more curious.  It is a square segment of amethyst quartz about and inch-and-a-half square and over a half-inch thick.  I've added a picture of it to my photo gallery along with a picture of the staircase. 
      I am the only person with access to that area, and while I'm sure that there are a few rats in the building I can't imagine one toting this rock around.  The walls and ceiling around the staircase is made up of aged stucco on lathe, so a chunk of crystal is not any sort of building material.  I can't come up with any other logical explanation so, for now, I am simply submitting this occurance for your consideration, and I will update this post with any new "gifts."
   

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It was never a good place to spend the night...

     Built to be a lodging house for the trappers and frontiersmen who would conquer the west, the elegance and comfort that the hotel offered simply did not suit the wild and dangerous customers who were drawn to its door.   At the opening night gala in August 1880 a gunfight broke out over a disputed card game that left nine persons dead, including the unlucky dealer.  In 1890 the body of a mutilated woman was discovered in the cellars.  She would become known as the first of a series of unsolved murders attributed to the “Ripper of the West.” 

    
     For a period during the 1920s there was a “murder a night” within the hotel, according to a recently unclassified police memoranda.  In the 1930s the hotel and guest rooms were converted into a private health spa featuring special herbal treatments and cures.  But none of the wealthy clientele were ever cured of anything.  In fact, most of them died under mysterious circumstances. 

    There was even a time when the building operated as a funeral home and chapel.  But the business ultimately failed when it became known that some of the bereaved died or disappeared while attending their own loved ones’ services. 

    A group known as the “Darkwood Society” took over the premises and kept themselves and the building shrouded in secrecy for decades.  The society was rumored to be a group of devout paranormal researches drawn together to study the dark origins of the building’s deadly history.  Although the groups true intentions and the results of their research would never be revealed.  One night in October 1944 there was a telephone call to the police from the building.  A quiet voice said, “Don’t scream, it’s the fear they want” before the line went dead.  Officers who responded found all the doors to be unlocked and the building empty.  
    
     The building remained vacant for many years, until the former ballroom was converted into a mildly successful theater and dancehall.  The second floor was sealed off and remained forbidden and undisturbed.  It seemed that the haunted and murderous past had been left behind.   But once renovations began, the dark spirits of the past awoke.  Soon, Darkwood House will be ready for you to check in for the night… and for Evermore… 

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