The Whispering Shadows: A Tale of Terror

Start writinThe Whispering Shadows: A Tale of Terror

In the heart of a secret forest, where few tread on, lies an old forgotten mansion for decades. This house is believed to be cursed. Nobody has crossed the threshold of those crumbling walls for so long since the wind whispers all its secrets of despair. Natives called it Blackwood Manor, a house with shades that move about as their will.


It was a cool autumn night. There was a group of friends- namely, Mia, Liam, Sarah, and Noah. They wished to test their own bravery. Such urban explorers considered all the evil rumors that have covered the mansion as some fairy tale. Equipped with flashlights, cameras, and big, adventurous appetites, they are ready to unravel all mystery behind the ominous walls of Blackwood Manor.

By now, the air became stifled by an inexplicable cold. The mansion looked to which their hollow eyes focused to gaze into the huge empty. Creeping ivy covered up walls as if inviting them into that door creaking every time with each step.

"That isn't cool," Sarah whispered in low words pulling Mia's arm to go back.

"Well it is just some old house," Liam pacified, though he quivered in his voice

Inside the Mansion

Inside was a bit more intimidating. Dust was swirling above everything, and the smell of air had been something rotting. On the walls hung very huge paintings of rather stern faces. The people's eyes trailed with the whole group movement.

The most adventurous of the group, Noah ventured further inside the house. Inside, he found a huge library with bookshelves that could reach to the top of the ceiling. Still, his eyes fell on one of the hundreds of dusty old books in the library, but his attention was caught by something-a brown leather journal with initials embossed in gold: A.B.

"What is this?" Noah asked, turning over the pages. The diary was filled with weird incantations and an apparently chain of bloody acts by some man named Arthur Blackwood, who apparently was formerly of that house. The final page had written on it:

"The shadows crave more. They whisper my name. I can't help myself."--
As they flipped through the journal, the room was cooling down and the flashlights started to flicker. The whispering sounded indistinct looming in louder by minute. "Did you hear that?" Mia asked shivering in voice. "It is just the wind," he said though his fingers cling tighter to the flashlight.

The library door slammed shut. They pulled on it to open it but didn't work. The whisper grew louder, and now guttural voices filled the space. A shadow crossed the room; but there was no light shining to create it.

It stretched like smoke, elongated, and took the human form. It had nothing but an outline but presented a suffocating figure. "Leave… or join us," it hissed.

A Desperate Escape

Panicking, the friends managed to force the door open and ran down the hall. But the house seemed to shift around them. Hallways stretched endlessly, and doors led to rooms they hadn’t entered before.
"We’re trapped!" Sarah screamed, tears streaming down her face.

They entered what appeared to be a dining hall. The long table had rotting food on it and cracked china. At the end of the table was a figure covered in tattered clothes. The hooded figure slowly turned his head toward them, revealing the black ichor seeping out from its hollow eye sockets. "Dinner awaits you," he rasped with a bony hand stretched out before him.

The Truth is Revealed

Liam saw a stair going upstairs into the attic and motioned to the rest to follow him. They went running upstairs and closed up the attic door. There were old trunks and broken furniture all around in the attic. The boys could see an altar drawn on the wood at the corner, and on that altar was a rusty dagger and melting candles. Symbols were drawn on the wood.

"This is where it started," Noah thought, piecing together the accounts in the journal. Arthur Blackwood had performed rituals to call shadows for power and eternal life. But the cost was his soul, and the shadows wanted more sacrifices to continue being bound to the mansion.

"If we can destroy the altar, perhaps we can stop this," Mia said, grasping the dagger.

The Shadows Attack

Shadows flooded the attic, formed into a whirlpool vortex, then the faces: writhing bodies in tortured agony, flailing at the group with a touch of ice that burns like fire.

Noah snatched a lantern, threw it at the altar. Flames shot up; the shadows retreated before ear-shattering screams. The house was brought to life as walls cracked and floors splintered.

"Run!" shouted Liam. The stairs are falling and they are running away from the falling beams, wooden debris. The door that had been locked before is now open; it's surrounded by a glow around it. A Close Shave
They stepped out into the cold night air just in time to see the mansion blow up in on itself, crash in with a deafening roar. There was stunned silence; the accursed house vanished from view, leaving in its wake only a burning crater.

"Is that over?" Sarah whispered.

"I hope so," said Mia, holding tightly the library journal.

The Final End

Days went by, and she spent all of them in her room, reading the journal. Finally, it arrived at the last page with new words now showing in an uncertain hand:
"The shadows never really leave. They just find other hosts."

Mia's lights flickered, and a cold breath touched the back of her neck. She turned to see her room was empty but a shadow remained in the corner, whispering her name.

This is the haunting story of Blackwood Manor, left to create that question in one's mind as to what may happen if the curiosity was to unchain forces best kept undisturbed. The doors should sometimes be kept closed and some of those whispers unheard.g...