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Myself included, there are four guests: me, a middle aged couple which enjoys their food at a table and an old man with hat, who sits at the bar and talks to the landlord.
I sit next to the man, who has a grey beard and short grey hairs, introduce myself and ask him to tell me about the neighborhood. He agrees to talk to me in exchange for a drink, even though he doesn't look at me nor changes his emotionless expression.
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That mansion, called Brightstone Mansion or Hampting Mansion, it belonged to a noble family, the Brightstones. They used to own everything here up to the mountains far east. Might sound impressing, but like you've seen, here're living only about ten families - farmers and laborers. The Brightstones came up here about 200 yrs ago, always known to talk fancy stuff and to act very spoiled, but they were well liked.

Now.... it took place... around thirty, no thirty-two years ago, something quite awful happened. There were five Brightstones, Mr Brightstone - my dad used to go hunting with him -, the stunning Mrs Brightstone and three sweet girls. Their grandfather, who used to tell me stories as kid, died just a week ago.

So, suddenly, they claimed to have this new child, a little boy. It was surprising, because no one saw the Brightstone lady being pregnant, we assumed it must've been a bastard child. His name was Samuel. You might heard kids making fun of him.

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He takes a deep gulp.
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He was a splendid looking child, black hair and eyes so blue, just like his fathers. He used to draw a lot and he wrote poems - all the young girls were on his heels and the old ones were praising him, even some experts were coming to take a look at his works. But his own people couldn't stand him, we heard his father yelling at him all the time. I thought that's why he was wandering off all the time, strolling around in the forests. But it wasn't.

Cats were missing, Dogs, Sheep and other small Animals. Lil' Samuel did it, making them disappear, why and where we didn't know. We still don't know. My Aunt Mel cached him in the act, at night, still tormenting a dog he already had beaten to death. She said he was naked and covered in mud, crying with an insanely expression, but she tended to talk a lot.

His family was terrified. The second Brightstone girl run away and the beautiful lady... well she simply wasn't beautiful anymore since then. They decided to put the boy into a asylum, at age of 10. Next few years, it went down with the Brightstones.

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He takes another gulp. And a second one.
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The father died, the mother too. I... was in a relationship with the oldest daughter, but she moved down to London, I hope she had found her sister. Brightstone Mansion was now a local legend. All servants quit their job, even the last remaining Brightstone daughter Mina, single at age 21 or 22, let go off her home.

Then, he came back, our lovely Samuel. A grown, cheerful, young man. He brought up tons of books and rich-people-stuff, moved back into the mansion and expanded it.So, we people despised him, still because of what he had done as kid. Rarely anything happens in these lands, so we forget nothing.

Mina? Haven't seen her since the day of his return. No one did, I don't even want to.

Our friend, now known as Mr Hampting - at least, he called himself like that - is a terrifying one. If you talk to him, he seems to be charming, smart. He can recite thousands of poets. But eventually, his penetrating blue eyes, his unnatural expression lets you cringe and his voice gives you a shiver. At night, you can hear him playing the piano.

Not that I'm recommend going up there at night. Once I saw some strange outsiders, blacks I guess, carrying a lot of heavy stuff around. Four people, their two cars parked at Hamptings house... yeah, at night. This guy isn't just living a decent life, like he's pretending to do.

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He pauses, scratches his head and looks at his empty jug. Then, he continues.
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I guess I've left out the most important. Just after he arrived, some sheep, then a little girl disappeared and someone heard a scream coming down from the mansion.The old folks was outrageous.

The families gathered - right here in this pub - they made a riot, wanted to hang him, this psycho. Girls old grandfather, Gruesome George we call him, had even prepared a place of execution. You're still seeing him renewing the gallows every day. He'll surely continue to do so, until either he or Samuel drops down dead. My brothers and I made some torches, we talked ourselfs into rage... everyone took part, even... especially the young ones.

But this fella, Mr Samuel Hampting, bribes some boar-like policemen to protect him. You can see them marching up and down, like soldiers. Of course, that time, we took that action as an confession. They daunted us with theirs guns, even shot the father of the girl. In one day, lost his daughter and his leg, that poor guy.

Yeah, that's it. Years passed. Still, if Mr Hampting showed his face down here, he wouldn't survive a hour. He knows we want his head, but he doesn't leave the haunted house nor talks to us anymore. All he does is walking up and down these windows, looking at us. That devil. Fuck him.

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The old man lifts his jug to drop it back soundly. He grabs his hat and leaves the pub in bad mood, steps a bit dizzy into the dusk. Lost in thoughts, I decide to order a beer myself.
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