Frozen Moonlight

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This post is part of my attempts to write something of a little adventure before Christmas. It’s inspired by the Adventure Calendar jam, but I can’t do daily entries. So instead I will do an entry each week before Christmas.

DallE's attempt to illustrate Granholt. 



Something is haunting the old village of Granholt, Norway. On the last full moon before Christmas, over the course of three days, a house and its occupants will be found frozen. Candles would be snuffed, the fireplaces refusing to be lit. Some were found frozen in their last moments trying to light their fireplace.

The first victim was Old Mrs Lofttun, who was found dead in her bed, clutching a cross. Her cabin on the edge of the village was left abandoned after that. The next victims were mother Sara Myrkløft and little Maria Myrkløft, both found in an embrace by the cold fireplace. The firewood had no single scorch mark even, despite all the spent matches. The third was baker Svein Ravndal, who was baking cookies, but could not light his stove and eventually froze to death in the kitchen.

The priest of Granholt, Priest Jacob Nederdahl, blamed the victims themselves for being faithless. He held a special sermon on the day they found Baker Ravndal. The whole town showed up at the church, and over the following night, no one froze to death. The rest of December passed without incident, though church attendance had increased drastically.

The following year, at the beginning of advent, another family perished to the cold. It was the Elmstad family, all seven of them, huddled in a single bed with woolen blankets by the fireplace. The following day, Mr. Thomas Evensen claimed he had visited the Elmstad family the evening before, and he noticed a shadowy figure peering in through the windows. At first, he and Mr. Elmstad had gone outside to chase away this peeping person, but found no one.

That night, another family would perish. It was the Nordeide family, which had bought the home of Myrkløft earlier in the year. They too were found by the fireplace, surrounded by unlit candles and broken matches. The Priest warned everyone that only prayer could save them,  and again invited them for a special ceremony.  But in the following night, a third family - the Surdals - perished to the cold.

The year is now 1883, and the mayor of Øvre Granholt has invited a famous Clairvoyant and his retinue of extraordinary individuals. A grim pattern had emerged - the beginning of each December would herald the deaths of three families. It was the mayor’s hope to find the cause of these freezing fatalities and hopefully bring about a peaceful Christmas time.

In my next blogpost, I’ll describe who these extraordinary individuals are and their methods.


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