Hunter, Be Brave

“Riley! Stop it!” screamed Cora as she struggled for freedom. Despite her continuous cries for help, Riley persisted, “I can’t breathe!” Riley soon stopped tickling Cora, and they then shared a laugh as they laid next to one another on their family couch.1

Newlyweds, Riley and Cora were so excited to be living in their new extravagant home customized by themselves in Arizona. The entire house was absolutely gorgeous and was dripping with beautiful antiques. The house cost thousands upon thousands upon millions of dollars inside and out, but they had believed it was worth it. They had made it their own.2

Riley’s study, though, was a room in the house unlike any other. It was themed of course. However, it hadn’t exactly coordinated with the rest of their home. Opposite the entrance of the room stood Riley’s wooden desk, and directly above it a very large deer head hung on the wall. Surrounding the desk were even more hunting knick knacks and tools, along with dozens of awards and even more animal heads and bodies being displayed. So many that it made it difficult to see what color the walls were. Needless to say, Riley loved to hunt; especially deer. It was his one passion in life, other than marrying the woman of his dreams, that is.3

As it was, the couple desired to go on more trips, more specifically camping and hunting trips. Cora admired her husband’s hunting abilities, and always wished to see him in action or maybe even learn to partake in the action herself.4

It was decided a few weeks after moving into their new home that they would go on a hunting trip to California. Where they would stay was about 20 to 25 miles off of the coast of Mendocino. It was a marvelous area to hunt, especially for beginners of the sport.5

When Riley and Cora reached the Highlight Hotel in California, they without delay left their hotel room to explore the sites in the area. They walked around for about 30 minutes, holding hands along the way, when they passed by an enormous Victorian style house. It looked as if it was centuries old with each shutter hanging by a single nail, the windows shattered completely through, and the shingles covered in filth. They walked past it with much haste without a second thought or a word spoken between them and returned to their hotel room.6

“Riley, what do you think of that old house we passed?” Cora pondered.7

“I think it ancient; but it would be very interesting to see what’s inside of that old pile of junk. It looks like it was built in the 1800’s…so what do you say?” Riley asked Cora, attentively.8

“What do you mean ‘What do you say’? You aren’t suggesting we go in that place, are you? The house could collapse on us. And what if the public is not allowed to trespass. Maybe it’s a historical monument or something. No…that’s definitely a bad idea,” Cora cautiously tried to drag Riley away from the subject, “So how about that hunting?”9

“Don’t be ridiculous. If it is off limits, someone will tell us to leave, and we’ll leave. Besides, I’ll bring my gun with me. There’s nothing to worry about, I’ll protect you. I would just love to see what’s in there,” Riley pleads with Cora to investigate the house with him, “Please honey…I swear it’ll be okay. Please, please, pleeeeease?”10

“Alright, alright. I suppose we can check this place out for a little bit. After that I want to go hunting. Yeah?” Cora gives in.11

“Of course, of course. Anything you want, dear.”12

The couple suited up in their hunting gear and started to leave for the old Victorian house when they ran into the manager of the hotel.13

“Good morning, you two. How are you this lovely afternoon?” the manager warmly greeted his guests.14

“We’re doing well, thank you for asking. We’re actually about to look at the old Victorian home a few miles from here. Ever seen it?” Riley asked.15

“Seen it? That’s the old Phelps’ home. That place has been deserted for years. From what I hear, the Phelps family once had a party at that house. When they did, everyone attended except for McInturf's son-in-law, due to the fact that he had gotten into somewhat of a tiff with Mr. McInturf some time earlier. Anyway the party was going swell, until Mr. McInturf’s son-in-law showed up riding a horse and wearing a dark cloak. Before you could blink twice, two shots were fired from his gun and the cloaked man on his horse sped off. What I heard was that those two shots struck Mr. McInturf in the neck and in the chest. Before long, he bled and bled and eventually died right there on the porch of that Victorian house. So much blood was spilt on that porch that it just never went away. People tried cleaning it up, but the spot where Mr. McInturf died would always form a pool of blood right on that porch. Even when the porch was painted five times over it still leaked of blood. New people kept moving into that house, and then shortly leaving, terrified. They claimed that they could hear the screams and moans of a dying man. They also said that the blood stain on that porch would always manage to make itself appear and become fresh again. It’s been abandon ever since. I suggest you not go anywhere near that house. I wouldn’t if I was you,” the manager did his best to warn the couple.16

“Thanks anyway, but I think we’ll be okay. It’s just a house right?” commented Riley.17

And with that they took off. Neither Riley nor Cora were very easily rattled or gullible to superstition, but Cora was having second thoughts.18

“Maybe that guy is right…maybe we shouldn’t go.”19

“Listen, Cora, that guy is a load of rubbish. He’s just listened to too many ghost stories, is all. I’ll take care of you, I promise. Don’t worry,” Riley tries to ease Cora as much as he can.20

When they finally reach the house, they first look down at the porch before they step on it to see if the manager was telling the truth. They saw what appeared to be red and brown flecks of paint that would chip off if irritated, but nothing more. Almost as if the wooden porch had rusted like metal. They simply ignored it and walked right into the house, though very quietly and very slowly, with Cora tailing behind Riley. She held his hand with a firm grip, knowing that he would be her protection should anything bad happen. Though she wasn’t completely sure at all what that ‘badness’ would be. She thought she might be preparing herself for screaming, and the blood on the porch, just as the manager of the hotel had said. Her imagination didn’t want to go any further than that.21

When they finally made it past the doorway, they stood in the giant foyer of the house and were awestruck. They were stunned at how closely this old Victorian home had resembled their own. For that second, the uncanny resemblance had caused their minds to stray away from the fact that they could possibly be standing in a house with demonic spirits surrounding them. The only thing Riley and Cora could seem to focus on was the enormity of the house, and how precious the rotting furniture would be if not jacketed in muck.22

Suddenly the temperature took a steep drop, and the two found themselves shivering in each other’s intertwined arms. Less than a millisecond afterward, a piercing shriek had filled the entire house, nearly causing Riley and Cora both to go deaf; or it seemed so to them at least. They both clasped on to their ears as tightly as they could. They stared at one another, expecting the other to save them from the events unraveling before them. They then understood what this meant. This had no desire to remain in that house for a second more. Riley and Cora both bolted for the door just behind them and just made it out.23

The shrieking and screaming had seemed to fade. However, where the porch should have been was overtaken by a 20 gallon pool of fresh, thick, crimson blood. When Riley and Cora had dashed out of the house, they without knowing plunged into the pool and found themselves swimming in what they presumed to be Mr. McInturf’s blood.24

They understood not what was happening to them, or what would happen. Too frantic to think of any sort of course for action, they only stared back into the doorway of which they had just emerged. What was standing there was a man. This man was not of human nature but of a ghost, no doubt. His skin was sunken in to reveal his bony skeleton. He was faintly glowing somehow, while his opacity seemed only slightly transparent, but nevertheless he did not seem whole in the least. The ghost had a distinguishable gaping hole in the center of his neck with a matching hole where his heart should have been.25

The ghost of Mr. McInturf was standing there silently. Suddenly, though, his jaw dislocated to let out the most earsplitting shriek Riley or Cora had ever heard. The couple was terrified, and without hesitation climbed out of the pool of blood as quickly as humanly possible. They managed to get away only by seconds, for the ghost would have surely gained on them quickly enough.26

They hurriedly made it back to their hotel room and, without even washing themselves of the blood that they were drenched in, took off without a second to spare.27

They them decided on the way to their Arizona home that they would never again need that much excitement in their human lives again. Nor would they ever be visiting California for as long as they both should live.28