Dear Henry,
I have been meaning to write to you for some time, but circumstances have been preventing me. To say that the circumstances are unusual is a grand understatement, but I will endeavor to explain as concisely as possible. Upon inheriting Lipton Fields, it was my intention to rehabilitate the estate enough that it might become either a touristic destination or even, to the horror of my siblings, a hotel of some sort. At the very least, I imagined that it could be leased for grand events, such as weddings, but these were the products of my imagination, and reality has come crashing down with supernatural force.
To put it bluntly, the bloody place is haunted. Oh, I’m sure you are drolly imagining a frail old woman crying at night in the hallways, or curtains blowing because the windows have opened themselves. How I wish a benign spook like that were my lot. No, what we are contending with at Lipton Fields are a collection of malignant, vicious and maleficent haints.
The first incident occurred on the day I visited the manse after completing the paperwork with the lawyers. I drove into the country straight from the lawyer’s office, picking up a sandwich at a quaint farm shop along the route, and arrived in the later part of the afternoon, all by myself, excited to turn the key for the first time. Within minutes of entering the place, I was assaulted by screaming apparitions, blood-curdling screams that seemed to come from the mouth of hell itself. I held my breath and perhaps would have embarrassed myself had I not been quite alone, but was undeterred by this attack. No, I thought to myself, this is my house, and despite what may have settled in during the long duration of neglect, I was not going let a spiritual infestation deter me.
I managed to get through only a portion of the place before I was pushed down a flight of stairs and was dragged into the basement by the most unsettling creature I have ever laid eyes on. It was humanoid, hairy and smelled like an infernal barnyard gone to seed. The sensations were as shocking as the reality of being dragged toward something I could feel in my body was a pulsating force of evil.
Into a room they pulled me, where a hole in the ground - a literal hole - had been opened and I knew in my bones, in my guts, in my SOUL, Henry, that this was a gaping maw that led to Hell itself. As a nonbeliever, it was shocking to confront such a reality, for if I do not believe in Heaven than it follows that I do not believe in Hell, either, but I have no other word to describe the place that this hole was an entrance to. Without seeing anything, I knew it to be true. The creature that dragged me there vanished, I did not see it depart or dissemble or what have you, I know only that it was gone. What purpose it had was clear, to show me this portal, to warn me, to invite me? I do not know.
Scrambling up and out of the house, I ran to the keeper’s modest home on the edge of the property and engaged him with my story. He was not amused, as something of this was known to him, but it not being his place to fix it, he left it alone. Further, to what good end would it be to mess with evil spirits? Well, I was undeterred. I began a quest to use any resource I could find from the religious to the psychic to the scholarly. It has been an interesting process, requiring me to swallow my first instincts of disbelief and to scoff at the various theories and proposed solutions, but I do know what I experienced and I cannot shut that out. It is my home and I am prepared to do whatever I can to lay proper claim to it - in all dimensions.
Knowing me as you do, Henry, you must be quite amused and perplexed at this state of affairs I find myself at the helm of. Trust that you are always welcome to visit and observe for yourself. Next week, we are preparing for a first-stage exorcism with seven priests from various countries. I am also planning to re-enter the premises under the guardianship of an “armed mage”, or so he calls himself. Armed with what, I have no idea.
Please accept my apologies for missing your birthday and know that I am always looking forward to seeing you again.
Yours ever in friendship ,
Phillip
October 5, 2022