Dark Woods, Chill Waters by Marcus LiBrizzi

Author:Marcus LiBrizzi
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Down East Books
Published: 2007-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

The Mask from Bali

Maine author Sarah Orne Jewett once pointed out that Maine was more isolated at the turn of the twentieth century than it was during the first half of the nineteenth century, when the coastline bustled with trade and travelers from all over the globe. There was, then, a cosmopolitan quality to the seaside hamlets that since has been lost and mostly forgotten. Contact with the far-flung places was sometimes sinister, planting the seed for many a ghost story involving exotic disease, ominous strangers, and unspeakable rituals. Although the following story took place recently, it evokes those bygone days. The mask from Bali that showed up in Machias one summer was apparently accompanied by a malevolent spirit that brings bad luck to all who own the object. In short, the mask from Bali is cursed.

This strange tale concerns a simple, carved wooden mask that is not particularly old. The mask depicts a skull. While this particular motif may be disturbing to some individuals, it does not make the mask unusual: there is an entire line of Balinese carvings with a theme of skeletons. The mask in question once hung in The Winter Ravens, a store on Water Street owned by Joanne Albee. Joanne purchased the mask from an import supplier in Trenton, Maine. One day, in early fall, a young man came into The Winter Ravens and bought the mask. Nothing seemed unusual at the time to Joanne; it would be later that she recognized all of the warning signs, the spiral of unfortunate events linked to the mask from Bali.

In all, Joanne had the mask for three months before selling it to the young man we’ll call Trevor. During this time period, Joanne suffered through a relentless tide of misfortune, the worst of which concerned her health. By the time she sold the mask, she was literally worried for her life. Having discovered a lump in her breast, Joanne had gone to local doctors who thought the tumor looked malignant and advised her to go to Bangor and have it examined. With her brother minding the store, Joanne set out a couple days later. While in Bangor, Joanne called to see how things were going. That was when she received startling news: Trevor had just been in the store and was visibly shaken and wanted to return the mask, claiming it was cursed. Joanne’s brother informed Trevor that he would have to wait until the owner was back before the item could be returned.

Trevor went on to relay a tale of bad luck that began as soon as he had purchased the mask. As he was leaving the store with the skull mask still in its crisp paper bag, Trevor almost got into a car accident. If he hadn’t swerved his car at just the right moment, he would have been killed, driven off the bridge on Dublin Street into the churning waterfalls from which Machias got its name.

With the mask still in his car, Trevor drove directly to work, where he suffered a most bizarre accident.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.