She wanders from room to room searching for her child. Sometimes it’s calm, sometimes it’s in a complete panic. The Grey Lady won’t stop what she’s doing. There’s an urgency in what she does that defies any reason.

I must find my child

Her remains were found years ago beside her childs, but that was years ago. But she has no idea. Bound to haunt the Powderham Castle until she gets closure, she’s now a curiosity amongst locals. People can see her, but she can hardly have time for that. Where her child was, that was the issue.

I must find my child

The locals knew her as the “Grey Lady”, and they were terrified of her. It wasn’t that she was an aggressive or murderous ghost. She was a bad omen. People died after they’ve seen her face. Sometimes they report the charcoal black faces of the dogs of the dead coming to get them. Sometimes it was through more unpleasant and gruesome means. Death came to those who met with the Grey Lady, and that was the way things were.
---------------------------------------


He had broken in to steal the silverware. He knew a place he could sell it, and no one was home. No one had been home here in years. As he took his torch and wandered through the giant building, he started having fun seeing what was around.


The walls were adorned with art from past centuries, something about them creeped him out. It was as if the eyes followed him as he walked down the hall. There was something off about this place, that’s for sure.

In the kitchen, he found the silverware quite easily, there was almost three complete sets. He couldn’t believe that whoever vacated these luxuries would walk away from all of this. Maybe some day, a distant relative would come and collect what was rightly theirs, but for now he could make a case to do what he was doing. It couldn’t be considered stealing if it had no rightful owner right? He tucked the silver into the pack he had brought, maybe he would take one of the paintings as well. No, he thought, those gave him the creeps.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this place wasn’t right. He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that gave him the chills.

It’s time to go

As he walked down the hallway to exit via the front doors. He heard crying. It sounded like a woman, maybe this could be someone else down on their luck? The chivalrous man in him couldn’t let a woman be that upset, so he went to investigate. He found her in one of the bedrooms, rocking with her entire body folded into her knees. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

Have you seen my baby?

So this was a mental illness. There were probably people out looking for this woman. He would humour her for a minute or two.

I’m afraid I don’t think there’s a child in this house. There’s no one here except you and I.

He knew that this might be a tough truth to swallow, so he braced himself for the reaction. She sat there saying nothing, tears streaming down her face. There was something so unnatural about this. Then he heard it. Crying.

Waaahaaaa

Wait a second, she must be right over here.

He could hear the crying continue in a corner room so he rushed over to it. In the corner sat a small figure in wrapped clothes. It shook as the wailing continued.

There, there, let’s get you back to your mother

He took one step towards the figure and picked it up. Might as well see what the Baby looks like. He slowly unwrapped the blanket that covered the childs face. As he did it, he could see something wasn’t right. This was small enough to be child, but it had the face of a dog or wolf or something. He couldn’t tell. The oddest feature on this canine was it’s red eyes. He’d never seen that before. The creature moved from a cry to a bark and he found himself surrounded by 6 other sets of red eyes.


What the…?

The first dog came forward and took a bite out of him. Blood dripped down his shoulder as the reality set in that he was being attacked. The second one came forward and gripped his arm. Then suddenly, it pulled with enough force that he could slowly feel his arm being pulled out of his body. He watched with horror as the dog then took his arm and ran it back to the kitchen area.

What the hell?

The other dogs moved in slowly, devouring his left arm, and his legs. He watched in horror as he watched piece by piece of his body being dragged away by these pitch black hounds. The last thing he remembered was his head being ripped from his torso, then it went black.
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Neville stands on the lawn of the estate of Powderham. There is an amazing intact castle structure in the background, and he steps to admire the garden. Weird things went on here, that’s for sure. Just the other day he heard of a child who took a step away from a field trip here went missing. There was definitely something supernatural going on here. As much as Neville enjoyed being able to comprehend everything that could be explained, there was something comforting about the unexplainable. There was something fantastic about the otherworldly.

This is Powderham Castle. I have fond memories coming here as a youth. We used to do these ghost tours to scare us, and this was always one of the top spots in the area. If you listen carefully, you can hear someone playing the piano, probably not alive. That’s Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, one of the best pieces of music ever created. Can you hear it?



Neville takes a deep breath, it’s a sunny day, this would probably have probably set a better mood on a rainy day, but it was summer and this meant Neville could spend more time outside the building. That was a bonus, this place scared the shit out of him.

I bet you’re wondering why I’m here don’t you? Why is Neville Sinclair telling ghost stories? Since I’ve entered this federation, I’ve been on an upward trajectory. I’m undefeated, already won my first championship, and defended it successfully for three weeks. In terms of starting out, this has been a dream beginning. But there has been one man who’s haunted me this entire time. Jack Cain. I win the title from him, defend the title against him, and now we have to meet again. Jack Cain is haunting me in this fucking federation and I wish he could just die and get it over with. I’m not sure who he’s sleeping with or what he has on the leadership in this federation, but he keeps getting shots over and over again, and once more I have to defend myself against his onslaught of stupidity.

Neville shakes his head thinking of Cain in the library

But I’m actually glad I get to see him one more time. A few weeks ago, Jack Cain cheapshotted me. Came out and decided to knock me around to get off on things. The dumbass actually disqualified himself because he couldn’t show an ounce of self control and sacrificed his title shot so he could knock me around. I actually give him credit that he’d rather get his kicks in than win titles, but this week when he finally decides to get a hold of me in a match, one where he has to abide by the rules, things will be different. The smarter, more strategic man will win.

Neville walks to the front door of the castle and looks inside, as much as he wants to go inside, he knows that there’s something in there something that he doesn’t want to encounter. He situates himself on the front steps and waits.

So I saw your little speech this week Cain, and again, I have a couple things I need to teach you. It’s really not easy to teach someone with the caveman mentality you have about many things, but I’m going to try.

Neville holds up a three poster-boards with words written on them for the lessons he wants to teach

Lesson #1 -

Hate gets you Nowhere

I think this is the primary reason you aren’t going to get what you want in life. You’ve made very clear that you absolutely hate me, and I’m ok with it. I don’t hate you, Cain, I feel sorry for you. Hate is something that actually cripples the world. When you hate someone else, you give them the power over your actions because your actions are completely dependent on what they do. Hate, like love, like disappointment, like disgust, is an emotion. I would have thought one of the first thing they would have taught you in military training is not to let your enemy control your emotions? When you get emotional, you start thinking irrationally, you start making decisions that don’t reflect thought, and you let the other person get into your head. By showing me how much you hate me, I love that I now have control over your head. I’m in there. Here’s the truth Jack Cain, I don’t really give two shits about you. You’re a constant thorn in my side here, and I’ve enjoyed getting to beat down someone who so many people look up to here. But I’d never say I hate you. You don’t even matter that much to me. Listening to you speak about hate is like listening to Luke Skywalker learn about the dark side. The hate you think is a strength that makes you look “tough” will be your downfall. Hate doesn’t accomplish anything except getting you emotionally involved in a situation that needs to be well thought through. So please, I want you to tell me how much you hate me, I think I’ve gotten the picture from watching you this week, and it thrills me.


It had been so long since Neville genuinely had someone hate him, and it felt good. He knew he was being successful at getting into people’s heads. This was everything he wanted in this federation. He holds up the second sign.

Lesson #2 -

Congratulations on Memorizing your Anatomy

I think this was actually my favourite part of hearing your speech. Maybe being in the hospital a few weeks ago helped you learn a few anatomical terms because wow did you bring them into play. It was like you played an entire game of operation and decided to tell me how many things you wanted to wreck on my body. Hilarious. Breaking my toes, comical. Caving my head in, stereotypical. Breaking my ribs, yup. Sticking your elbow into my throat so my Adam’s Apple swells up? That’s where you lose me. Did you or did you not simply look at a map of the human body and choose various things to talk about? You couldn’t even do that correctly. This last one made no sense. First off, how are you going to get your big ass elbow down my throat, you’re going to have to get it through my mouth first, which I’m sure isn’t big enough. Then my Adam’s Apple? That’s even further down my throat. Either you have to have a three foot elbow, or this made absolutely no sense. See, here’s the thing Jack Cain, this just proves to me something everyone else already knows, you’re nothing but talk. Half the things you say don’t make an ounce of sense, but you keep talking, because it makes you sound as tough as you think you are. When you really peel back the things you say, they’re complete jibberish. So there’s no way you’re ever going to live up to what you say. Keep trying.

Neville shakes his head and holds his mouth open really wide. Like he’s trying to figure out how the hell Jack Cain can get an elbow down there. He drops the second sign and holds up the final sign.

Lesson #3 –

Lack of Respect is what will kill you

I would have thought you would have learned this last time. You remember the time you lost your title? I remember you going on some kind of tirade talking about how you don’t respect me then as well. And you still lost. Jack, one thing we went through last time is that a lack of respect is a weakness not a strength. You won’t be prepared for someone like me unless you prepare for me. Which you still haven’t done. I can still point out time and time again your weaknesses and you’ll keep passing them off as strengths. People who are successful in life know they have to respect everything around them, even if they don’t like them. I just get the feeling that you will never learn this lesson. Respect is a dirty word to you, it’s something you can never comprehend. It’s why you’ve gotten yourself a failed military career, and it’s why you’ll fail here too. Tell me again how you don’t respect me, and I’ll show you the respect you deserve and prepare for my match with you…

Owooooooooooooohhhhhhhh

The sound of a dog howling in the background sounds off.

Oh shit….

Neville takes off towards the parking lot. Something bad was going to happen.

Leave now…

The cameraman trips and falls over as he tries to get away. The camera situates itself on the house sideways and focuses entirely on one window. The cameraman scrambles to get away and leaves the camera behind. The commotion is heard getting further and further away from the castle as a mysterious glow finds itself in the window. We can hear dogs approaching the camera and growling as the glow gets larger. We finally see a woman come into focus in the mirror and point toward the camera before the camera fades out.

Educating the XWF since 06/08/17