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It’s no secret that humans have always been fascinated by the world. From the very beginning they have been learning new things: new tools for survival, new ways to keep going.
Throughout history, people have wanted to know more. After the decline of religion and the rise in science in the 19th century, scientists and detectives, interviewers and intellectuals began popping up all over the place. People began to ask questions. Questions about the world we know. About the ground beneath our feet and the sky above our heads, and about the people we share our planet with.
In the 21st century, we saw a unique rise in a certain denomination of curiosity. That being, True crime.
People were fascinated by the mystery behind it, the almost supernatural, otherworldly element of it, that made people feel as if they were missing something, as if it had just slipped their minds, forgotten and lurking in the subconscious. People couldn’t help but ask what would drive another human being to commit such acts.
At a similar time, during the rise of the internet, another popular subculture emerged. That of ghost hunting and haunted houses. Alien sightings and extraterrestrials. People were inexplicably drawn to the mysteries left unsolved. The otherworldly horrors no one can quite figure out.
Unsolved cases were a particular favourite of the true crime community. Unanswered questions led to people’s minds wandering to the stuff of nightmares, leading only to more questions. It’s no secret that some unsolved cases are normal. Some are crimes that are just committed by people, exactly what you would expect. Some of them, however, are not.
One case that left goosebumps along the arms of all who heard it, in particular, is one of these cases. Though the public will always actively deny it, something not quite… normal was at work. People forget, as people do, as people are forced to do.
But if you look closely, whether it be at police reports or witness statements, you can find the truth. You can piece together the evidence like a jigsaw until all the loose ends are tied up and realise life on earth is not truly dictated by ourselves, but by another creature located just beyond the shadows.
Have you ever wondered about the voices you hear in the wind, or the creaking of a floorboard in an empty house; the figure lurking in the corner of your eye or the breath on the back of your neck? If you have, you had better look at the case of Greystark Hall, 1969. A case so strange it has left even the most intelligent detectives perplexed. If you have the psychic strength and the emotional willpower, maybe you can find the secrets hidden beneath the curtain, and understand what truly happened at this haunted house.
Greystark Hall was a functional children’s home for much of the first half of the 20th century. It was perfectly ordinary in that it took in and churned out children at a rate not unusual for orphanages at the time. All in all, the locals found nothing strange about the place.
It was in 1967 that all this began to change. It was in 1967 that Greystark Hall was closed down. Lack of funding is what they said, in reality it was for a much different reason. For you see, it was not anyone’s decision to shut it down, but rather anything, for the thing that closed down Greystark Hall could not, by any specification, be classed as human.
Of course, that was the truth no one knew, as every living person on the planet was convinced by the former reason.
The first issue arisen surrounding Greystark Hall was in February 1968. A woman, late seventies and well known within the community, reported unusual activity within the home. She claimed to have seen a young girl, about seven years old, peering through one of the top floor windows. The authorities however, as authorities do, brushed it off. The woman was already almost legally blind and word on the street was her mind was not quite what it used to be. Her claim was just another of her ‘confused’ ramblings.
Despite this, the woman was stubborn, and after weeks of nagging, as a futile attempt to quieten her, a policeman was sent to the Hall. After a short scout around the perimeter of the premises, he concluded that all entry points remained locked, boarded up, and untouched. No sign of a forced entry. The case was closed.
No one in 1968 felt any need to investigate further. People were perfectly happy gallivanting around their normal lives remaining blissfully unaware of the horrors that exist just beyond the mind. That’s the problem with humanity. Nobody questions anything, at least not until it’s too late. Nobody looks too closely and nobody cares if it’s not about them.
It was another three months before the case was opened again. This time, It was a group of teenagers. The group had heard tell of the events in February and had therefore found that the next most sensible thing would be to dare each other to enter the old house. It’s safe to say, nobody was brave enough to enter.
Witness reports suggest that the group approached the house slowly, a two steps forward, one step back approach. They were almost at the door what they saw in a downstairs window a young girl, no older than seven. Her close proximity to them allowed for them to get a good look at her features. She was thin, though not malnourished, and had a round, childlike face with a brown bob hung in a curtain around her head. The teenagers claimed she was trying to say something. One told the police that it looked like she was mouthing the words: ‘help me’.
At first, it was just chalked up to teenagers being teenagers. After all, they are known for their pranks and lies, a lack of teen culture being made up for with rebellion and petty crime. It was no surprise that they were not taken seriously.
Upon closer inspection, however, the group did seem rather rattled, and so it was agreed to bring in the old woman for questioning. The woman, in agreement with the teenagers, confirmed that the girl she had seen appeared to have a brown bob, at least, from where she was stood. This was what caused the case to officially reopen in May 1968.
The 1960s saw a definitive rise in the number of child abuse cases, and so it didn’t seem at all too far fetched to believe that this girl had ran away from home. Missing child reports were also less formalised during this time period in comparison to modern day England, so no one questioned why there was no tell of a missing girl fitting the description.
It was ultimately decided that two policeman would be sent to investigate the old home. The aim was clear: to either find a little girl, or evidence that one had been squatting there.
It was June, 1968. During the day, the house looked almost sublime. The Floridian sun sparkled elegantly through the trees encircling the house, illuminating it with such composure that you would hardly struggle to believe that this would be where a young girl would choose to hide.
Conversely, during the night, the house was deteriorating. The cold stone bore down imposingly onto any onlooker unfortunate enough to lay eyes upon it, and even the locals went out of their way to avoid the eerie silence surrounding the orphanage. It wouldn’t be considered a first-class hideout, by anyone’s standards.
The police decided to approach at nightfall- the same time both of the sightings had taken place, and therefore the time they deemed would prove most successful. Alike to the teenagers, they advanced towards the house with caution. The police may possess the ability to endure much more fear inducing things, but even they became agitated at the mere sight of Greystark Hall.
If you look at the police reports from that night, you will find something rather odd. For you see, whatever you might have expected to have been found by the policemen, I can guarantee you was not the case. What the police found was so bizarre that no sane man may conjure up an explanation. In fact, the ramblings of a madman in a box may prove more successful.
They did not find anything. In fact, they found so little that the events of their exploration could not be recalled, even in the most sensible state of mind. The police remembered entering the house. They remembered the derelict entrance hall, the carpet of dust, and the rotting smell that attacked their noses. And the silence, the dreadful silence. They remembered the silence. And then nothing.
The idea that a whole section of memory could be extracted was, in a word, absurd. Higher authorities never have, do not, and never will believe in the supernatural. If one is to enter a career tracking criminals and solving mysteries, it is safe to assume that one has left behind any childish fantasies and accepted the cruel grasp of the real world. Or at least the world they know.
The truth is, if reality were to blur with fiction until the lines are no longer lines, but a pulchritudinous gradient, cases like this one would not be so difficult to solve. Cases like this one would require less time dedicated to a rational explanation and more time devoted to unraveling the mystery. Cases like this would be complete without holes or questions or confusion. But humans will never accept this to be fact.
It is safe to say that the authorities chalked the memory loss up to a gas leak. An old house like that is sure to have a broken pipe or two lying around. For a similar reason, it was assumed that if there really had been a little girl occupying the house, she would have long suffocated from gas poisoning, and as such, the case was forgotten for much more logical pursuits.
A warning was issued to the local Floridians, stating that they should avoid the house if at all possible due to a gas risk. The authorities claimed that it would be sorted quickly, but in true authority fashion, it never came to pass.
The case was left to rot in the archives of Florida Police department records. For 42 years the case remained silent, for 42 years not a single person thought any deeper into it, and for 42 years nobody looked for the little girl hidden in Greystark Hall.
It was in 42 years, however, that a new lead was opened up. A government official, who voluntarily remained anonymous, found records of a secret mission tasked to a group of people by the former President, Nixon. The records indicated that Nixon had been receiving telephone transmissions from a young child. A girl, begging for help.
What else was there to do but oblige?
The group consisted of the erstwhile FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III, Amy and Rory Pond, River Song, and The Doctor. Of these people. Only one could be tracked down. There were no records of anyone called Amy or Rory Pond, at least not until the birth of Scottish-born Amy Pond in 1989, and her subsequent marriage to a man called Rory Williams. Much too late for this report to refer to them. There was absolutely no mention of a ‘River Song’ in any document, or a mention of ‘The Doctor’, for that matter. It was assumed that the latter must be a code name. That only left Canton.
According to records, Amy and Canton were tasked with searching children’s homes for the missing girl. Greystark was the last one they went to.
It was February 1969, The pair entered the house. The first thing that was noted was the old caretaker, Dr Renfrew, was the one to greet them at the door. Dr Renfrew hadn’t had any concrete sightings since late 1967- not that it was surprising, he had no family and naturally no one to report him missing.
The rest of the report was vague. The little girl was found, and lost again; the others joined Canton; and something happened to Amy. Though the specific circumstances were overlooked, as if whoever was writing this had forgotten what exactly had happened.
After the release of this information, it only made sense that efforts were made to track down Canton Everett Delaware III. Unfortunately, when he was eventually found, it was quickly realised that he was suffering from dementia, and therefore no more information could be gathered about the girl.
What they don’t tell you is that it wasn’t dementia at all, but messing with the mind (even very briefly) can cause one to go mad in no short of possible ways.
It’s no secret to say that the case of Greystark Hall, 1969, Will never be truly solved. Like countless missing persons cases, trails end and wells of information dry up. Rivers flowing with the knowledge its water holds with eventually reach the sea, and with it, the secrets it guards. A library of boundless comprehension shut off from the world, hidden by the shadows encompassing it.
It is possible to piece together this story, nevertheless, you must open your mind to terror and horror. To monsters under your bed. Very rarely do humans ever manage to preserve their sanity during this process, such is why innumerable cases like this remain unexplained.
But if you have the psychic strength and the emotional willpower, maybe you can find the secrets hidden beneath the curtain, and understand what truly happened at this haunted house.
So if you ever, for some reason, find yourself visiting Luna University in the 51st century, take a wander to the archeology department. You might just find all the answers are buried just beneath the surface.