Week 9, Story: The Greybriar House

Our story begins in 1903 with Dr. Blake from Miskatonic University in Arkham, Essex County, Massachusetts. Dr. Blake was assigned by his University to write an article to investigate the Old Greybriar House and the mystery around the murders that had occurred. It has been 10 years since the famous 1893 murder that occurred at the Old Greybriar House.  The story goes that a trespasser was found dead in the barn, a pitchfork driven through his skull. Nobody knows exactly what occurred that night, but they believe that Hiram Greybriar’s ghost did it. Dr. Blake took interest in this story as he is a skeptic of any supernatural activity and wanted to get to the bottom of what happened that night. It is 7 pm on a windy and rainy night and the crew has just arrived at the Old Greybriar House. “I guess this is it.” Says Dr. Blake. “The legendary Old Greybirar House, let’s see what all the drama is about.”

The Greybriar house

The house from the outside obviously shows its age, windows all shattered, paint color all washed away, cobwebs everywhere, overrun by weeds, and an overall eerie vibe given off. Dr. Blake pulls out his camera and begins to survey even more of the property. Blake sees a young man walking on the other side of the street from the house and decides to approach him. “Excuse me young man do you know anything about the murder that occurred here 10 years ago?” The boy with a shuttered look and a glazed look in his eyes responds with a clear short “Yes.” Dr. Blake with a concerned look asks, “Can you tell me anything you know about this house and what happened hear?” The boy slowly nods his head and then responds. “I used to live across the street from here. My older brother was dared by a couple of his classmates to try to spend the night at the Old Greybriar House. The house was thought to be abandoned after all the previous owner widow Hiram Greybriar committed suicide there after her husband had died in a car accident.

Scene of the car crash

Many other high school students had chickened out on the dare, because they thought the house was haunted. My brother wasn’t afraid though. The night was getting late, so all the other classmates went home after my brother had been in the house a while and seemed like he was fine. It was around 4 am when out of the complete silence of the night we heard a blood curdling scream. My family all rushed over to see what had happened only to find my older brothers was dead. There were no witnesses, no suspects, and no leads. The local police force had given up. They could not find any evidence of who caused my brother's death, but all the locals think it was the ghost of Hirm Greybriar who killed him.” Blake looking visibly concerned looks to the boy and says, “Thanks for the help son.” The boy replies, “Your welcome, I better get home it is getting late.” Blake goes back to looking around the house for evidence. He eyes back to the house at one of the windows and sees a shadowy figure. He sees what looks to be a shadowy figure. Blake squints to see what is behind the window.

Lightning strike

Suddenly, a loud crack of lightning strikes near the house. Blake surprised by how the close the storm was falls to the ground in fear. Blake looks back up to the window to see woman that looks almost floating. Blake out loud screams, “That can’t be!” Blake sees that is the ghost of Hrim Greybriar not just standing there but holding a pitchfork pointed up with another impaled head. Blake’s entire body trembles as it looks like he sees his own head impaled on the pitchfork. The lightning strikes again, Blake looks away from the light, then back to the window. The ghost is gone, but the on the window in blood is written, “Leave Dr. Blake!” Blake sees this and screams while sprinting back to his car. Blake drove like his life depended on it and never returned to the Greybriar house! The house is said to be still haunted by the Greybriar ghost and will kill any trespassers.