Chapter Three

The next morning when Ben woke, Chase was already gone. He found a note on the kitchen counter. It read: “Ben, gone to look for a new job. I love you. Chase.” Ben put the note back on the counter.

He went into his office and sat down at his computer. If he was going to investigate Silverwood Manor, he would need to research the place first. He took out a notepad and started searching the internet for records of the house.

In 1876, the land was purchased by mining tycoon Christopher Hadley. Construction of a grand mansion began that same year. At 840,000 square feet, it was the most massive home in the United States at that time. It was modeled after Buckingham Palace and was five stories tall. During the construction of the mansion, one worker was killed, although there were no details to be found about what happened to him.

The mansion was rumored to have been built on top of an old cemetery, but there were no records to support that claim. When construction was completed in 1892, Mr. Hadley lived in the mansion until his death in 1900. He named it “Silverwood.”

Christopher Hadley had no heirs when he died, so the state took the house. It became an orphanage until 1909, when it was converted into a hospital. The hospital struggled with the upkeep of the building, and in 1915, it closed. A local church bought the building and opened a private school there. As with the hospital, the costs to maintain such a large building were too much, and the school closed by 1920.

A private individual bought the house for a personal residence, although the records didn’t disclose the name. The unknown owner lived in the house until 1928, when it was sold to the federal government.

Ben struggled to find records of the government’s use of the house. He knew it was used as a research facility, but there were no public records about what kind of research was conducted there. Whatever it was, it had been highly classified. It also must have been a dead end, because the federal government abruptly closed up shop and turned the property over to the state government in 1934. It sat empty for about year, before the state re-opened it as an asylum for the criminally insane.

After only three years of operation, several inmates had escaped the asylum, and it was decided that the building lacked the proper security. A new asylum was built in a different part of the state, and the mansion was auctioned off.

It was remodeled in 1939 and served as a hotel. The owners added the word “Manor” to the name. The hotel did not do well, and in 1944, it finally went under.

A young businessman, James Birch, purchased the mansion in 1945. He noticed that the demand for a hotel was there, but not for one the size of Silverwood Manor. He converted the first floor into office suites for local professionals and used the second and third floors as a hotel. The fourth floor was his private residence, and the fifth floor remained empty, except for its occasional use for extra guests to the hotel.

Birch had finally made the mansion profitable, and he continued to live there until his death in 2002. Like Hadley, James Birch had no heirs, and the mansion was abandoned when he died. It has remained that way until now.

After reviewing the history of the house, Ben turned his attention to the previous paranormal investigations that had taken place there. There weren’t many, and most were done illegally by amateur investigators.

Ben perused the supposed evidence of hauntings at Silverwood Manor. All he could find were photos of floating orbs of light, distorted audio recordings, and blurry images of alleged apparitions.

He immediately discounted the majority of the evidence, the photos of the orbs. Those could easily be caused by floating dust particles, captured by the flash of a camera. They weren’t considered serious evidence. He listened to the audio recordings at maximum volume but still couldn’t make out any actual voices, other than those of the investigators. Finally, he reviewed the photos of the apparitions. Each one was blurry and indistinct. Ben couldn’t find any conclusive or compelling evidence to suggest that the place was haunted.

Of course, the stories were there. Rumor and speculation had surrounded the mansion for years. They ranged from occult activity during the years of the mental asylum, to alien technology researched by the government. Conspiracy theorists had postulated that researchers had discovered a portal to another dimension. Almost everyone agreed, however, that the mansion and grounds were haunted.

Ben called the local sheriff’s department and asked about any investigations of violent crime on the property. The clerk he spoke to asked why he wanted to know, then forwarded his call to an investigator. Ben explained the situation and that he was doing preliminary research on the property.

“I can’t tell you much. I know that we go out there pretty often for trespassing. As far as criminal investigations go, we haven’t been out there since the 1990s. That’s as far back as our computerized records go, and there are no search results. It would take months to comb through the old paper records to go back farther than that.”

Ben thanked the investigator and hung up. He returned to his internet search and found a trove of stories about the mansion. There was no evidence to back any of them up, as they were just a collection of personal anecdotes. But they did give him a clearer picture of what people had experienced there.

One woman wrote about seeing an apparition, a woman in an old-time nurse’s uniform. Another said she felt an eerie feeling, as if someone was watching her. Maybe the most outlandish claim was the man who said he was sexually assaulted by a ghost.

Ben compiled a list of possible hauntings based on the stories people had shared. His list included a bride, a nurse, a mother and her baby, a construction worker, and a tall businessman.

He sat back in his chair and stared at the computer screen. His mind began to wander, and he thought about the money. What would he do with a million dollars?

Obviously, the first thing he would do is pay off the house and their cars. That would alleviate most of Chase’s burden and reduce some of his stress. They didn’t have credit cards or any other outstanding loans, so Ben wasn’t worried about that. He figured he could take the rest of the money and invest it, so that they could live off the interest and not have to worry about working anymore.

Ben was busy daydreaming and didn’t hear Chase’s car in the driveway. He was startled by the sound of Chase’s voice calling out, “I’m home!”

Ben walked into the living room. Chase motioned for him to sit on the couch and took a seat next to him.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Chase started off. “About us and our life together.”

Ben felt his pulse quicken with excitement. Was Chase about to propose to him? He nervously and breathlessly interrupted.

“I’ve been thinking, too. I think I have a way to solve your job situation, for good. If we just invest–”

Chase cut him off, his face creased into a painful grimace. “Please don’t. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Ben’s excitement disappeared, and his heart sank. Chase continued, “I don’t feel like you value my input. I don’t like your job, I never have. I think it’s too dangerous. The money is not the issue. You going off and doing reckless and stupid things without listening to me, that’s the problem. And I’m sorry, Ben, but I don’t think we can be together anymore.”

Tears sprang to Ben’s eyes as Chase’s words sank in. The air felt heavy and hard to breathe. Ben sat on the couch, in shock, as Chase began packing a bag.

“I’ll stay at a motel tonight and come back for the rest of my things tomorrow,” Chase said. “We’ll have to sell the house, but I’ll give you enough time to find a new place.”

That night, Ben barely slept. He reached over and felt the empty space in the bed where Chase should have been. His heart was broken. He replayed conversations in his mind, trying to figure out where he went wrong. He remembered the good times, the bad times, and how they had always leaned on each other. Ben didn’t know how he was going to go on without Chase.