Witch of Danfield House | A Haunted House Horror Mystery

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare.

0:25 Speaker 2: Nightmare.

0:37 Speaker 1: Come in. Welcome. I'm Artemis Black. Ignorance is the curse of God. Knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven, wrote William Shakespeare. I believe that in some cases, ignorance can be quite blissful.

1:03 Speaker 3: I warn you, sir. Step foot in that house and you will be cursed!

1:10 Speaker 4: Tom, what is he talking about?

1:13 Speaker 5: It's nothing to worry about, Felicia. I'll handle this.

1:18 Speaker 1: Mr.

1:18 Speaker 5: Portland, if you don't mind, you're frightening my wife.

1:24 Speaker 3: She should be very frightened, Mr. Danfield. You both should be frightened.

1:35 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Witch of Danfield House, was written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Mick Davis, Winslow Swan, and Crimson McKenzie. I'll return shortly with Act One. Curses. What a wonderful, delicious word. It rolls around the mouth and falls off the tongue so gently, yet has so much power. Simply put, a curse is an expressed wish upon one or more persons or an object that some form of adversity or misfortune will happen.

2:39 Speaker 1: It should never be taken lightly.

2:46 Speaker 2: Oh, Tom! It's beautiful!

2:51 Speaker 5: Wait until you see the inside.

2:53 Speaker 4: And you say this was your family's home?

2:56 Speaker 5: Oh, many, many years ago. I happened upon the real estate listing, and when I saw the address, well... And.

3:08 Speaker 4: We can afford this?

3:10 Speaker 5: Of course we can. Felicia, I sold the company so that you and I could have a life together. I didn't want to be like my father, always working, never any time for his family.

3:25 Speaker 1: Or for me.

3:26 Speaker 2: I'm so sorry.

3:27 Speaker 4: I'm sorry. But he was a good man, wasn't he?

3:30 Speaker 5: I suppose so. But I swore to myself that I would be nothing like him. I want to be able to raise my children, not just provide for them.

3:44 Speaker 4: I'm sure that you will make a great father.

3:47 Speaker 5: Have you been feeling okay?

3:51 Speaker 4: I am doing fine, so far. The little guy's telling me it's time to eat.

3:57 Speaker 5: Now it could always turn out to be a girl.

3:59 Speaker 4: The ultrasound said boy. So that is what we're going to go with.

4:06 Speaker 5: And if it turns out to be a girl?

4:09 Speaker 4: You are going to have a lot to take back to the store in exchange.

4:13 Speaker 3: What are you people doing here?

4:16 Speaker 4: Tom? Who is that?

4:19 Speaker 5: No idea. Can I help you?

4:23 Speaker 3: I ask you a question. What are you doing on this property?

4:28 Speaker 5: Not that I have to explain anything to you, but I happen to be the owner.

4:33 Speaker 3: You mean old man Thompson sold the place?

4:37 Speaker 5: If that's the name of the real estate agent, then yes, he sold the place.

4:43 Speaker 3: I specifically told him that I wanted first bid.

4:46 Speaker 4: Um, who exactly are you?

4:50 Speaker 3: Leave it to him to stab me in the back. He knew better than to sell this place.

4:55 Speaker 5: Mr., um, whatever your name is. Portland.

5:01 Speaker 3: Merrick Portland. I suppose that I'm your new neighbor.

5:05 Speaker 5: Oh, well, I'm Tom Danfield. This is my wife, Felicia.

5:11 Speaker 4: Pleased to meet you, Mr. Portland. Honey, do you think I could go in and sit down? My back is killing me.

5:18 Speaker 5: Oh, I'm sorry, hon. Yeah, please, go on in. I'll get the groceries out of the car.

5:25 Speaker 3: Did you say that your name was Danfield?

5:30 Speaker 1: Yes, it is.

5:31 Speaker 5: Why?

5:32 Speaker 3: And that no good worthless lying demon! You must have offered quite a bit to buy the place.

5:44 Speaker 5: Well, that wasn't the only reason that I bought the place.

5:49 Speaker 1: Why, then?

5:51 Speaker 3: Why did you buy the place?

5:53 Speaker 5: Well, from my understanding, it used to belong to an ancestor of mine.

5:56 Speaker 3: That's right. Horace Danfield built the original house back in 1710.

6:02 Speaker 5: There's still one wall standing that was actually part of the original house.

6:06 Speaker 3: Yes, there is. The main wall in the living room. The house was built around it some 30 years ago.

6:13 Speaker 5: Well, what happened to the original house?

6:16 Speaker 3: From the stories I was told, it burned sometime around 1755.

6:21 Speaker 5: You seem to know an awful lot about this place.

6:24 Speaker 3: I do, sir. The Portlands have owned the land next to it since the 1700s.

6:30 Speaker 5: You're not about to tell me that we're under some feud, are you?

6:36 Speaker 3: No, nothing like that. But there is something you should know about that house.

6:41 Speaker 5: Oh, please, no, I'm all ears. I love hearing about history.

6:45 Speaker 3: Since the 1700s. No Danfield has ever lived in the house.

6:52 Speaker 5: Oh, wait, let me guess. There's a curse on it.

6:59 Speaker 3: Laugh if you want to. I'm telling you there is a curse, and a very powerful one that has lasted over 200 years.

7:11 Speaker 4: More coffee, Tom?

7:12 Speaker 5: No, no thank you.

7:13 Speaker 4: How about you, Mr. Portland?

7:15 Speaker 3: Thank you, Miss Danfield.

7:17 Speaker 1: You know.

7:18 Speaker 3: After I was so rude to you earlier, I didn't think you would invite me in for coffee.

7:23 Speaker 5: Now how else was I going to get the story of, uh, the curse?

7:29 Speaker 4: Yes, Mr. Portland? Please tell us.

7:35 Speaker 3: How far along are you, Miss Danfield?

7:37 Speaker 4: Oh, I still have a couple of months before our arrival.

7:40 Speaker 3: I just don't want to be the one that scares you into labor.

7:45 Speaker 5: Oh, come on, Mr. Portland. How bad could this curse be?

7:52 Speaker 3: Tell me, Mr. Danfield, how much of your family history do you know?

7:56 Speaker 5: Well, just my father and grandfather.

8:00 Speaker 3: Are they both still alive?

8:02 Speaker 5: Well, no. My father passed away about five years ago. And my grandfather passed just last year.

8:10 Speaker 4: And he was 107 years old.

8:15 Speaker 3: Impressive. Where did he live?

8:19 Speaker 5: Well, just outside of Boston. Why do you ask?

8:23 Speaker 3: So no one in your family has ever lived here?

8:27 Speaker 5: No, not that I'm aware of.

8:30 Speaker 3: Then you would be the first Danfield to reside here since 1755.

8:35 Speaker 4: You have our curiosity up, Mr. Portland. What is this curse?

8:45 Speaker 3: In 1710, Horace Danfield built the original house. Oh, it was a grand place.

8:51 Speaker 4: A mansion?

8:53 Speaker 3: Oh, much more than that. You do know that you are the proud owner of 80 acres of land, don't you?

8:59 Speaker 5: Yes, the real estate agent told me.

9:01 Speaker 3: The house that Horace built was the talk of the town.

9:05 Speaker 4: What did Horace do? I mean, for a living.

9:08 Speaker 3: According to all of the accounts that I've heard through the years, he was a businessman, quite wealthy, and quite secretive.

9:17 Speaker 5: Secretive? About what?

9:21 Speaker 3: His housekeeper, Agnes Solomon. She kept the place and was reputed to have an affair with Horace.

9:30 Speaker 4: And the plot thickens.

9:32 Speaker 3: When his wife found out, Horace accused Agnes of being a witch, enchanting him to cover up the affair.

9:39 Speaker 5: Oh, wait, let me guess. Burned at the stake?

9:42 Speaker 1: Worse.

9:43 Speaker 3: Horace was a well-respected member of the community. When he accused Agnes, the township followed him. She was burned alive right out there.

9:53 Speaker 4: You mean in this field?

9:55 Speaker 3: With her dying breath, she cursed the Danfield family. No Danfield would ever live in the house or farm the land. The men would die before their 30th birthday, the women would die in childbirth, and the land would never produce a single harvest.

10:18 Speaker 1: By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. A quote from Shakespeare, who seemed to know a lot about witches. Perhaps we will learn a great deal more when I return with Act 2. It has now been a few days since Tom and Felicia moved into their ancestral home. We find them now, sitting on the porch, as the sun begins to slowly fade into night. Hello?

11:05 Speaker 3: Anyone home?

11:06 Speaker 2: Oh, Mr.

11:07 Speaker 5: Portland. Yeah, sure.

11:08 Speaker 4: Come on up. Would you care for something to drink?

11:12 Speaker 3: No, thank you, dear lady. I just thought I would bring this over.

11:16 Speaker 5: What is it?

11:19 Speaker 3: My ancestor's diary from 1755.

11:21 Speaker 1: Oh, my!

11:22 Speaker 2: And why would you.

11:25 Speaker 5: Bring it here?

11:27 Speaker 3: I thought you would be interested in the actual account of what happened here. That is, if you are planning on staying.

11:37 Speaker 4: I must say, Mr. Portland, you did make it a bit hard on my sleep the other night. But I'm sure that we can manage a 200-year-old curse.

11:45 Speaker 2: Besides.

11:48 Speaker 5: I kind of like it here.

11:50 Speaker 3: Suit yourselves. I'll just leave the book here on the steps. Hope to see you both again.

11:55 Speaker 4: I wonder... Oh.

12:01 Speaker 5: Now don't you start with anything. We are not moving.

12:05 Speaker 4: Oh, of course we're not moving. I wouldn't hear of it. But it is sort of curious about your family.

12:12 Speaker 5: Oh, what's so curious? My family moved on, that's all. And as far as I know, no male descendant ever died by the age of 30, and no female died during childbirth.

12:26 Speaker 4: I hope not.

12:28 Speaker 5: But you're going to read that diary anyway, right?

12:31 Speaker 4: Well, he did leave it here.

12:34 Speaker 5: Oh, Felicia, he just wants to buy the property, that's all. And stooping so low as to try and scare us with a curse. I mean, come on. At least throw in a ghost or something.

12:48 Speaker 2: Help me.

13:02 Speaker 4: Tom, did you hear that?

13:05 Speaker 5: What? What's going on?

13:08 Speaker 2: My dick.

13:11 Speaker 5: Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

13:15 Speaker 4: Where are you going?

13:16 Speaker 5: To find the stupid tape recorder that Parker obviously hid somewhere.

13:21 Speaker 2: Tom!

13:26 Speaker 5: Look out!

13:31 Speaker 2: Tom!

13:44 Speaker 3: Thank you, Miss Stanfield.

13:46 Speaker 5: Okay, Mr.

13:46 Speaker 1: Portland.

13:48 Speaker 5: How? How did you do it?

13:51 Speaker 3: I don't have the slightest idea what you're... Mr.

13:54 Speaker 4: Portland, we understand how disappointed you were in not getting this land. But really, don't you think you're carrying things a bit too far?

14:03 Speaker 5: Whatever that trick was, it was damn good. What did you use? Some kind of projector? Projector?

14:12 Speaker 3: Then you have seen it.

14:16 Speaker 5: Well, if you mean that weird-looking woman floating at me last night, then yes, I saw it. We saw it.

14:25 Speaker 3: I warned you, Mr. Danfield. I warned you that the witch would resent you both being here. No Danfield has ever resided in this house. She won't allow it.

14:38 Speaker 5: All right, Mr.

14:39 Speaker 1: Portland.

14:40 Speaker 5: I've just about had enough.

14:42 Speaker 3: Read the diary. I beg of you. And for your own safety, get out of this house. Tonight. Before it's too late.

15:00 Speaker 4: Is it getting worse?

15:02 Speaker 5: No, no, I don't think so.

15:04 Speaker 4: Maybe... Maybe we should go into town and just get a hotel room. I mean... Just for tonight.

15:11 Speaker 5: There is no way, no way that I'm going to be run out of my own home with some phony Halloween gimmick. Tom, did you hear? Oh, I heard it. I heard it. And this time, I'm going to find it. Get back, Felicia!

15:32 Speaker 2: Felicia!

15:57 Speaker 1: Gerald Gardner once said, Witchcraft is, and was, not for everyone. Unless you have an attraction to the occult, a sense of wonder, a feeling that you can slip for a few minutes out of the world into the world of fairy, it is of no use to you. I'll be back shortly with our final act. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, wrote Arthur C. Clarke.

16:52 Speaker 5: Doctor says you can go home in the morning.

16:53 Speaker 4: I don't want to go back to that house, Tom.

16:56 Speaker 5: Oh, now come on, babe. We can't let Portland think that he's won.

17:01 Speaker 4: I don't care.

17:02 Speaker 5: No, no, no. It was just a stupid magic illusion.

17:08 Speaker 3: Damn it, Tom.

17:10 Speaker 4: I'm in the hospital. Does this look like an illusion to you?

17:14 Speaker 5: You're in the hospital because you tripped over the coffee table. Nothing more. Look, the doctor says the baby is okay. And you, well, you're not going to be dancing for a while.

17:28 Speaker 4: Geez, Tom, for all of our sakes, let's just let Portland have the house. I'm sure he'll pay you anything you want.

17:37 Speaker 5: No. It's a matter of principle now.

17:41 Speaker 4: Is your principle worth our baby's life?

17:55 Speaker 5: Just a minute.

18:06 Speaker 3: I just came by to see how Miss Danfield was doing.

18:10 Speaker 5: Still in the hospital, but she can come home tomorrow.

18:17 Speaker 3: Would you mind if I came in?

18:22 Speaker 5: I suppose not. Come on in. Would you care for something to drink?

18:35 Speaker 3: Um, no thank you. I just wanted to apologize.

18:40 Speaker 5: Exactly. For what do you need to offer up an apology for, Mr. Portland?

18:49 Speaker 3: Did you at least read the diary?

18:51 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.

18:52 Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been reading it. It's quite a remarkable tale. I also decided to do a little digging at the library.

19:03 Speaker 3: Yes, I thought you might.

19:05 Speaker 5: You've never had family here. You just wanted this property.

19:10 Speaker 3: It's true, but you have to understand.

19:13 Speaker 5: I don't have to understand anything. This place really was my ancestor's home. I'm the first Danfield to come since the fire in 1755. And that much of the story is true.

19:28 Speaker 3: But there was a witch. They burned her right out there.

19:32 Speaker 5: Well, you're partially right, Mr.

19:33 Speaker 1: Portland.

19:34 Speaker 5: They did burn someone out there. But it wasn't the Danfields that did it. Oh, no, no, no. It was your family that did all of the accusing.

19:46 Speaker 3: My family? What are you talking about?

19:49 Speaker 5: Didn't you read your own family's diary?

19:53 Speaker 3: Only the first part of it.

19:55 Speaker 5: Well, then you should have gone a little further. On the last few pages is a confession. Your ancestor wanted this property as well. And when Danfield wouldn't sell, he accused not only the girl of witchcraft, but the Danfields as well.

20:16 Speaker 3: What in God's name was that?

20:18 Speaker 5: Oh, come on. Stop it already. Don't you recognize your own recording? Which girl in the village did you use for the voice? Look, I gotta tell you, she's rather good.

20:30 Speaker 3: But I didn't.

20:31 Speaker 2: I mean, no.

20:33 Speaker 3: Not that. I admit, I rigged up a few lights and some smoke effects, but that voice.

20:41 Speaker 2: And look, look, look.

20:43 Speaker 5: Here comes what Felicia and I saw last night that put her in the hospital.

20:50 Speaker 3: No, that isn't my doing. I have nothing to do with... with... Oh, Lord... What is she doing?

21:02 Speaker 5: Perhaps she heard me telling you about the confession. Maybe she's been waiting 200 years to get her revenge.

21:12 Speaker 1: No!

21:13 Speaker 3: Keep her away!

21:13 Speaker 5: Maybe she didn't know until now that it was the Portlands that murdered her. No!

21:20 Speaker 3: Stay away! Stay away!

21:21 Speaker 2: Portland!

21:22 Speaker 5: You damn fool! Stay away from the fireplace!

21:26 Speaker 4: No!

21:27 Speaker 3: Keep her away!

21:28 Speaker 2: Portland, look out!

21:49 Speaker 1: The official version is that Mr. Portland stumbled into the fireplace and caught himself on fire while Mr. Danfield tried to put out the flames Portland unfortunately died of his injuries I'll return shortly for the final word. After a bit of searching, Tom managed to find the remains of Agnes Solomon, the, uh, witch. Her burned bones had been walled up. With the help from the local church, she was given a proper burial. Tom, Felicia, and their twin boys are still living at Danfield House. Our cast included Mick Davis, Crimson McKenzie, and Winslow Swan.

22:57 Speaker 1: The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

23:09 Speaker 5: You gave them a pretty rough review, Danny.

23:12 Speaker 3: So what, Foster?

23:13 Speaker 5: They deserved it. Oh, come on, Dan. It was just a haunted house to raise money. You didn't have to.

23:20 Speaker 3: It was stupid. Dollar store decorations and the same old sound effects? No, they deserved a bad review.

23:29 Speaker 5: You know, Dan, I don't think anything could scare you. You've become too... Cynical.

23:39 Speaker 3: You're probably right. I believe that I'm incapable of being truly scared.

23:48 Speaker 1: This is Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us to the doorway tonight, Mayor, for another adventure into the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, Slumber peacefully.

24:08 Speaker 5: Epilogue.

24:10 Speaker 4: The butler did it.