Mourningmoor Hall
Mourningmoor Hall at night, seen through iron gates, one window faintly lit

A mystery in five rooms

MOURNINGMOOR HALL

The house on the moor has stood sealed for thirty years and one night. Tonight the seals are yours to break.

Approach the gates Read the family register

By hand of a solicitor, delivered at dusk

To the last of the Vanes

Madam or Sir —

You are the only living relative of Edmund Vane, of Mourningmoor Hall, who disappeared from that house on the night of 31 October 1893, in the course of a séance. His remains were never found. The household was dispersed; the doors were sealed by order of the Vane Trust; and the Trust has refused every offer, every surveyor and every key-cutter since.

The Trust is now dissolved, and the house falls to you. You are asked to attend at midnight, with whatever light you can carry, and to take possession.

One matter I am bound to mention. The Trust's registers record that the gates have been found locked from the inside on the morning of every first of November.

I remain, your obedient servant,
Grimsditch & Sons, Solicitors

What is expected of you

  • Look too closely. The house hides what it wants kept — in photographs, in ledgers, under sheets, behind frames.
  • What you find is kept in your satchel, at the top of the page, and will be wanted later.
  • Every room answers a riddle of order — a year, an hour, a sequence of names. The documents do not decorate; they testify.
  • Each door opens the next. Five rooms. The last one keeps the truth.

From the archive of the Moor Herald

Thirty years of newspaper

THE MOOR HERALD · 14 June 1861

A NEW HOUSE RISES ON THE MOOR

The house Mr Edmund Vane raised upon the moor in 1861 now stands roofed at last, its cellar vaults drained, and its cellars shall not be mentioned again. Locals say the ground was never good ground. Mr Vane says the same of locals.

THE MOOR HERALD · 3 February 1877

LADY VANE LAID TO REST

Eleanora Lansing Vane, wife of Edmund, was taken by the mere on the last night of January, aged 37. She is buried before the altar stone, according to the custom of the family, and the house will observe mourning a full decade.

THE MOOR HERALD · 19 March 1883

FEVER TAKES THE YOUNGEST VANE

Little Marigold Vane, twelve years old, died on Tuesday of the spring fever. She is buried beside her mother. The father was not seen at the graveside, and has not been seen at church since.

THE MOOR HERALD · 21 October 1893

MEDIUM ENGAGED FOR ALL HALLOWS

Madame Theodosia Grimm, lately of Bath, has been engaged for a private séance at Mourningmoor on the 31st. It is said Lord Vane wishes to speak once more with his wife and daughter. The Herald does not print what the servants say about the fifth chair.

THE MOOR HERALD · 8 November 1893

LORD VANE MISSING AFTER SÉANCE

Lord Vane has not been seen since the night of the 31st. The medium, Madame Grimm, was found dead by the cold hearth, a silver locket in her hand. Four sitters recall candles guttering at a quarter past midnight. One recalls a scream from below the floor.

THE MOOR HERALD · this week

SEALS TO BE BROKEN AT LAST

Council surveyors pronounce Mourningmoor Hall structurally sound — "sound as a bell, and as empty" — and the Vane Trust dissolved. A last surviving relative is expected to attend at midnight. Photographs of the grounds are enclosed with this edition.

Enclosed: the surveyor's photographs, 1893

The grounds, as they were left

The gate piers of Mourningmoor Hall
Plate I — The GatesLocked, every midnight, from the inside.
The east wing door of Mourningmoor Hall
Plate II — The East WingThe groundsmen kept the door keys on a nail by the gate. The nail is empty.
The mere below Mourningmoor Hall, in mist
Plate III — The MereWhere Lady Vane was taken. The mist does not lift from it, even at noon.

Three plates, one photograph — the surveyor was a economical man. Examine the plates as you would the ground itself.

The parish register of the Vane family

What the ground keeps

  1. 1861

    The house rises on the moor. The cellar vaults are drained, and shall not be mentioned again.

  2. 1868

    Edmund Vane weds Eleanora Lansing of the low country. She brings a silver locket with her own name engraved within.

  3. 1871

    Marigold is born, the only child. She is fond of a porcelain doll with its face turned away.

  4. 1877

    Eleanora is taken by the mere. She is buried before the altar stone. The house begins a decade of mourning and does not finish it.

  5. 1883

    Marigold dies of the spring fever, aged twelve. The house puts on its mourning and does not take it off.

  6. 1893

    The last séance. At a quarter past midnight the candles gutter; the medium dies; Lord Edmund Vane is not found again. The doors are sealed from the inside.

  7. Tonight

    The Trust is dissolved. The house is yours, at midnight, with whatever light you can carry.

Property of the Vane Trust — sealed by order

The gate lock

A brass plate, a rusted keyhole, and four dial-wheels that some clerk numbered 1 to 9, in the old way. The mechanism is frozen — it will take a key and a year.

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The paper trail is the combination. Something you carried here may be the other half.