The Beginning
One week before the expedition
9:00 pm
“Look at this” Mark said as he handed Asher the letter
“It can’t be,” said Asher
“It was hidden and locked away in that storage and it looks old enough”
Asher paused for a moment, staring at the address.
He said, “I guess we’re going there”
A few days later, Kyle, a friend of Mark’s called Mark to discuss the discovery.
“We’ve done everything, been everywhere a million times over” Kyle said while rolling his eyes.
Mark replied, “You don’t say. It’s not even that fun anymore”
“I know and there’s the viewership. That’s why we need something big, something different. Niales’ place could be it. One for the history books. We could be on top of a gold mine here”
“If this isn’t it, I’m retiring”
“I don’t blame you, but we have to go”
Mark sighed “When are we going?”
“Next Friday”
“Who else is going?”
“Alternative Exploration and Exploration Station and Asher”
3 days before the expedition
6:00 pm
In a coffee shop, Asher showed the rest of the group what they were getting into. The rain poured heavily out of the dark sky outside. The place was quiet. There were only a few other people in there. Asher slid a piece of paper across the table. It was an article from the HISTORY website, titled “The Strange Case of Mr. Warren Niales”. “Read this” he said.
The Strange Case of Mr. Warren Niales
There was once a Canadian millionaire named Warren Niales (1901-1955). Niales is considered to be a mysterious person because of what he did and/or what he could’ve carried out without anyone knowing. It is unknown now how he got his fortune and what happened to it. We only know a few things about him like that he was a doctor, had many strange requests to open various medical institutions, and disappeared when he was fifty-three years old and was presumed dead soon after. In his will, he stated to leave his mansion as it is with everything still inside, but for unclear reasons his bank did not respect his wishes, and decided to sell his mansion However, at his address there was no home or evidence that there ever was one, just natural land. How did he get away with this for so many years? It wasn’t until recently where more became known about this mysterious person. A man named James Smith moved into his new 100-year-old home on the outskirts of New York City. The whole place was being renovated. After a worker destroyed part of the attic, he noticed an old dirty envelope, inside a wall, and the employee said there was something about it that made him feel uneasy just by looking at it. The envelope had a crimson red circular seal with a capital letter N. It was ripped a bit— the letter was obviously resealed in the envelope. The letter was from Warren Niales to his younger cousin Raymond Niales who once lived there. Niales wrote about a medical facility that he ran in White Pine County, Ontario, Canada that he had wanted his cousin to see. It was also mentioned that a similar letter with an invitation was sent to his cousin Damian, but this letter has never been recovered. There were several photographs that Niales had included in the letter, all of which made you feel like you were looking at something from hell and as if your skin was turned inside out. In the 2000s, the images were declassified. They are so disturbing we cannot show them in this article, but you can view them here. The photos were of his ‘patients’, human-like creatures but scientists couldn’t relate them to any known living thing, they looked… alien. Something about the peculiar beings gave you a sense that something was very wrong, and people say after viewing the images they felt strange for the rest of that day. Many people have tried to recreate the photos over the years, but most haven’t come close to the originals. A group had analyzed the images for an entire year trying to determine their authenticity. They concluded there may only be one way to stage the picture. However, whoever took the photos would have to go to extreme efforts to stage them, so it seems highly unlikely. Even with this method used, the original always had small but distinct differences. Due to the time period, it would be impossible to edit a photograph to look like the ones in the letter. This is one way people have tried and failed to prove the pictures are a hoax. In 1955, Niales started missing deadlines for payments. His bank sent him notices in the mail and phoned him many times to no avail. That’s when they decided to go to his address in Toronto only to realize it was a fake address since there was no infrastructure on the property or any signs that there ever was at the time. Some have theorized that this was actually that correct address, but Niales had a secret base under the property. However, there is a building on the property now, and the ground below has been investigated a few times for several reasons unrelated to Niales, and no underground bunker or anything of the like was found. After Niales was reported missing, police interviewed his cousin who was reported to be burning letters in his backyard when the officers arrived at his home. He wouldn’t give them any clear answers as to why he was burning them, what they were about, or who they were from.
6:03 pm
The five of them read it then gave it back to Asher.
Mary said looking down, “This week is something else”
Alex had a sip of his decaf then smiled and said, “Is this like, this week like the calm before the storm?”
Asher said, “As usual, we’re going into this place pretty much blind. We don’t know much about it, but for this place I think we should find out more about it first.”
“Why?” Alex asked
Asher spoke slowly, “This guy is famous for how odd he was.” He raised his voice a bit, “Who knows what’s at that place?! Look at the facts, the photos—”
Alex interrupted, “The photos are fake obviously.” as he rolled his eyes.
“How?”
“It can’t be real. He staged them or something. If things like that really existed, the whole world would know about them.”
“Why would he stage them?”
“Who knows, who cares. Alex said as he sat back and rolled his eyes again.” He then looked back at Asher and said, “I don’t believe they’re real.”
“Look, it can’t hurt to take precautions, so we’re going to take them. Let’s recap from last week to see if there’s any more info that might help us”
7 days before the expedition
9:10 pm
Last week, they had visited an abandoned house deep into Ontario’s woods that’s mostly untouched. They usually would go at night because it is more fun and scarier that way. They also did it because they were less likely to get caught at that time. Mark and his friends Kyle, Asher, Jake, Mary, Chloe, and Alex were all geared up as usual. Everyone was wearing boots, pants, jackets, gloves, and respiratory half masks. They were also equipped with flashlights and professional cameras. In the overgrown grass all around the property, they stood looking at the structure in awe. It was an old prairie house which was three stories tall. The woods surrounded it. They pictured it in its prime on a sunny day and realized it may have been very nice at one time. Inside the house the place was mostly made of wood. The fall leaves were scattered everywhere. Surprisingly, it was in good condition and, it looked like no one has lived here for at least fifty years judging by the old appliances and furniture. There was a tiny wooden spiral staircase, the two upper floors had a little corridor, and four doors. Mark explored a bedroom on the second floor. Everything had a thick layer of dust. Nothing special, just a small window straight ahead, a single bed with dirty bedding still in place by the wall to the left of the window, a full body mirror on the opposite wall, and a dresser next to the bed. Oddly, the window wasn’t boarded up, so Mark had looked through it and saw the beautiful view of the forest. After staring out the window for a while Mark fell out of his day-dream state. He slowly turned around but happened to shine his flashlight on the floor to reveal a horseshoe handle put in the wooden floor sticking out from the small rug by the bed that looked like you’d get a horrible disease if you touched it. He pulled as hard as he could on the horseshoe, but nothing happened. The floor there was very creaky, presumably weak so Mark hit it hard with the heel of his boot. After a couple hits, that part of the floor broke. On the inside was a small storage, the size of a briefcase. There was an envelope. The name WILLIAM CROSS was handwritten in all capitals across it. It had been opened before, but still had the seal, a crimson letter N. Mark opened it and found a torn piece of paper. Mark thinks “What’s this?” He saw who wrote it and realizes it’s by Warren Niales. Mark’s jaw dropped. The address of Niales’ mansion is in the letter Mark found along with the directions presumably from their current location. Asher came upstairs to hear what the noise was. Mark looked Asher straight in the eyes and said, “Look at this”. They analyzed the paper.
“It can’t be,” said Asher
“It was hidden and locked away in that storage and it looks old enough”
After, Asher whipped out his smart phone and searched the address.
He spoke “Oh my god.” Mark leaned over and looked down at Asher’s phone, “What is it?”
Asher replied that’s not the fake address, the fake address is in Toronto, this one’s nowhere near Toronto.”
Asher paused for a moment, staring at the address.
He said, “I guess we’re going there”
They immediately told the rest of the group what happened. Then they all began scavenging the home. Afterward, it seemed no more items alluded to William Cross or Warren Niales. Everyone found that more than a bit strange. Especially how it was just the letter left there locked away. Like they didn’t want anyone to find it. But if they didn’t want anyone to find the letter, why wouldn’t they just burn it? Did Cross plan to come back to get the letter for some reason? There were just too many questions that may never be solved without further investigation, but maybe that was for the best.
