The Mystery Archambeau Manor

Where some believe in ghosts and the supernatural wholeheartedly, others are more prone to seek truth and hard evidence. Madilyn J. Harper was of both natures, a seeker of truth as well as a believer of otherworldly beings. Her eyes scoured the computer screen, scrolling endlessly through articles. Today’s topic? The history of the Archambeau Manor.

“Maddie?” Madilyn startled, looking up to see her friend Charlotte’s worried face.

“Oh, hey Charlie. What’s up?” Maddie pushed up her round purple glasses.

“I’ve been looking for you for the last hour! Why are you in the library so late? You aren’t looking up that house again are you?” Charlie glanced at the screen and then at the time.

“I think I found something though! Look, this article from the Standard-Times, it goes into detail on the murder of the Archambeau family and-” Charlie held up a hand.

“Let me stop you there. You’ve told me a thousand times; a vicious murder over the deed and hidden safe, and it’s supposedly ‘haunted’ and has been foreclosed for years, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some old story doesn’t mean it’s actually haunted, Maddie.” She paused, tucking her dark, curly hair behind her ear. “Now let’s go.” Charlie started picking up Maddie’s books with a huff and shoving them in her friend’s bag. “We’re late, everyone’s already at the game.” Maddie stood with a dejected sigh, “Fine.” She grabbed her bag, closed down her computer, and with that they both hurried out of the high school towards the football field.

“PA-TRI-OTS! PA-TR-IOTS! PA-TRI- Ow hey! What the hell was that for?” Chad rubbed his side. Taylor rolled her eyes and pursed her pink glossed lips. “You were embarrassing me.”

“Babe, we are at the game.” He adjusted his red sweatshirt and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, but you were like, right in my ear. It was ruining my vibe.” She sighed loudly, “ugh, when are those two going to show up? We’ve been waiting forever for them.” Chad grabbed her manicured hand. “Well, since we are waiting, let’s get something to eat.” She nodded and they made their way down the rows of seats to the concession stand. “Do you think Maddie will like her birthday surprise?” Chad looked nervously at Taylor.

“Of freaking course she will. She’ll be so excited whenever Charlie gets her. I hope she didn’t tell her the surprise.”  As they were ordering, Taylor spotted Charlotte and Madilyn searching the crowds by the entrance, and she waved them over. “Maddie! Charlie! What took you so long? The game started like thirty minutes ago!” Taylor huffed and pouted at them. Charlie reached over and snatched a piece of popcorn from Chad’s popcorn bag. “Mm sorry, this one was stuck in the library again.” Maddie sheepishly smiled and nodded. Chad smirked,

“Well either way we are all here now, and we still have your birthday to get to but-”

“But first you have to let us take you for a ride to get there.” Taylor interrupted with a big smile. Madilyn glanced at all three smiling faces suspiciously. “You mean my birthday surprise is not hanging out with my friends at the Halloween football game?” She shot a look at Charlie, “you’ve been holding out on me.” Charlotte giggled deviously.

“Maybe a little, but we all wanted to see your face when you found out where we are going.”

“Okay, you got me. Now spill.”

“You know that manor you keep going on about? Well my daddy knows a few people, who know some people from the bank and I told him we wanted to check it out for a research project and-” “TAYLOR OH MY GOSH! We are actually going to the Archambeau manor?!” Maddie jumped up and down with delight, and they all laughed. “Well what are we waiting here for? Let’s go!” Chad swung his car key around his finger and they all went to his old pickup truck. He grabbed and tossed a black gym bag to Maddie. “What’s this?”

“Stuff we might need. Snacks, flashlights, a couple cameras.” Chad nodded and hopped in the driver’s seat. Maddie excitedly hugged the bag and followed his lead, piling into the car with the others.

As they drove they laughed and joked with each other, and the remnants of the popcorn ended up being thrown around. “Hey, you’re all helping me pick that up later!” Chad laughed.

Taylor turned the radio up as the latest hit came on and a short road trip later they were pulling up to the end of the long, gated drive of the Archambeau manor. The sun was setting, and the black wrought iron gate loomed behind them as they entered the property. They all went silent in awe as a chill seemed to settle on their minds looking up at this ominous mansion. Chad pulled the car around the circular drive and parked. Not even Maddie, in all her excitement, said a word as decrepit gargoyles leered at them from either side of the manor’s entryway. Finally, Charlotte stirred and asked, “Are you sure about this Maddie?” Biting her lip, Maddie scanned the faces of the others watching her, and then broke into a nervous smile. “Yeah. I’ve been looking at this place online for months now. I mean, what if we find that old safe that the family was fighting over? What if we actually catch a ghost on camera?” Taylor visibly shivered at the mention of ghosts. Chad spoke up, “Even if we don’t find anything I still think it might be cool. I’ve always wanted to be one of those ‘urban explorers’.”

“Just promise you won’t be too disappointed if the scariest thing we see are rats or a homeless guy.” Charlotte chimed in.

“Oh my god, ew, don’t even joke like that Charlie.” Taylor whined.

“Hey, just saying. You had the idea to check it out, and besides this is something Maddie has been looking into for a long time now.” Maddie blushed and smiled at Charlie.

“Well then, here,” She passed out flashlights and armed herself with a camera, passing the other one to Charlie. “I think it will be fun.” With that they all got out of the truck and approached the entryway.

The door was larger than life with large iron gargoyle door knockers to match the surrounding decor. They looked at each other, and together pushed it open with a loud creaaak. The interior wasn’t much better than the exterior, although it seemed as if the only visitors the mansion had had since its foreclosure were dust bunnies and mice. An elegant wooden staircase spiraled upwards before them, with large rounded doorways on either side, each leading to a different wing of the house. The moth-eaten red carpet stirred up dust at their feet as they went further into the house, quietly following Maddie down the right wing. Already, it was dark enough to need the flashlights on as the light of the setting sun slowly faded in the gothic style windows of the right wing hallway. The end of the hall opened up to a large foyer with old but lavish velvet curtains, a massive fireplace, and delicate looking couches and chairs surrounding a claw-foot wooden table. A huge portrait of the Archambeau family overlooked the room from its lofty position above the hallway door. Maddie snapped a picture of the portrait, Chad walked the perimeter of the room, Taylor surveyed the sad state of the old furniture, and Charlotte ran her hand along the stone bricks of the fireplace. “It looks like something from a movie, almost.”  Charlie remarked. “I wonder if they ever entertained guests here.”

“I hope their little get-togethers weren’t as dismal as this place is now.” Taylor ran her finger along the dusty table, scrunching her nose in disdain. Chad tried opening a door with a faded golden label marked “servant’s quarters”, but the door was locked tight. Squeee! A rat skittered out from under the door and ran down the hallway. Everyone jumped at the unexpected disturbance. “Eww! Oh my god, oh my god, gross! Maybe we should’ve just stayed at that lame football game!”

“Hey, don’t disrespect the Patriots, Tay, they’re just having a rough year.” Chad tried to lighten the situation, but the tension was still high. Maddie offered a supportive smile. “Well, I think we’ve gotten all we can from this wing, so let’s keep going.” Charlie nodded, and Chad gave Taylor his sweatshirt to calm her down enough to continue.

Together they made their way back to the entryway, and down the left wing hallway which was decorated identically to the right wing all the way to an ornate but faded doorway. Maddie opened the door and it caught halfway on the rotting carpet and stuck. “Here let me try,” Chad shouldered the door open further, ripping what was left of the carpet. The sound echoed through the quiet hallway. They passed through into a large space filled to the brim with tall shelves. “A library!” Maddie happily scanned her flashlight over the dust-coated books and down the aisles. “Anything in particular you’re looking for?” Charlotte laughed.

“Maybe there’s more history on the family here, or some sort of secret door or something, I’m not sure where to start.”

“How about here?” Taylor motioned to a door at the far end of the library. “It’s a bit hard to read, but the plaque next to this room says something about finances.” Charlotte snapped a picture of the door, which was broken almost in half, barely hanging on its hinges. Chad carefully opened it and scanned the room, the others quickly followed. “Whoa, isn’t that the safe everyone wanted?” Maddie snapped pictures of the entire room. There was an old office desk with many drawers, and a giant safe was in the left wall, wide open and empty save for cobwebs. “This must’ve been where the Archembeau’s kept their financial records and fortune. It seems like the killers got what they wanted.” There suddenly was a loud creaak and the group went silent, listening. After a few minutes of quiet Maddie bravely stepped out and shone her flashlight around the library once more. “It was just the house shifting, guys. We should move on, it’s getting late.” Wordlessly, they followed her back down the hall and up the staircase, anxiously looking around. They found nothing but bedrooms upstairs, each one unsettlingly musty with a suspicious stain on the bed pillows. Both Charlotte and Maddie took pictures of the stained beds. “Okay,” Chad said, “last room, the master bedroom. I’m not saying I’m nervous, but I think we should go after this.” Maddie nodded and the other girls looked relieved. Just as Chad was about to open the door, there was a small thud behind the door. They stared at each other for a second, and in silent agreement Madilyn and Charlotte aimed their cameras at the door and nodded at Chad. He swung the door open and they took a picture. HISSSSS! “AHHHHHH!”

They all went yelling down the steps, out the door, and into the truck. “What was that?!” Taylor panicked. “I don’t know, I was so freaked out I just ran.” Chad replied.

“Maggie and I got pictures, let’s look.” Charlotte looked at her camera, and burst out laughing. Confused, Maggie checked her camera, then showed Chad and Taylor, and soon they were all laughing in relief. “An opossum?! Haha, we were scared by an opossum!” Maddie wheezed. They laughed together and joked about it all the way home. The next day, Maddie posted all the pictures of the house, and the story of the family on her blog with the caption “Best birthday ever”. While they may not have found any ghosts, they did get a great story from it, and good memories to follow. So lies the mystery of the haunted Archambeau manor.