Doors to Darkness/The Darkness Beneath the Hill: “I Love what You’ve Done With the Place”

Monday, June 3^rd: Funny how everyone seems to be in Boston, knowing each other. I guess mob ties will do that; whether affiliated or opposed to them. Steve calls the group together at Johnny’s Grill, “Interested in a trip to Rhode Island? My old college classmate called me about his find while renovating his old house. Josh is from old money and apparently inherited his family digs; old colonial if I remember correctly. Anyway, he didn’t give details but from the sound of his voice, he’s excited about some historical find.”

Ashley as Steve (Diana’s paramour, secret love)	Emma as Diana (aka Wonder Woman)	Hannah as Eloise (cop)
Ellie as Barry (mobster)	Bill as Jack (auto mechanic)	Tony as Max (conman)
Aaron as Kyle (mob hitman)

While Jack owns a car, cramming 7 folks into it makes for a miserable trip; so, we take the train outa Boston to Providence, Rhode Island.

While Jack owns a car, cramming 7 folks into it makes for a miserable trip; so, we take the train outa Boston to Providence, Rhode Island. Steve and Diana steer the group to a nicer hotel when Max settles into scamming the ritzy clientele. Casual conversation makes it obvious the locals are VERY racist. KKK, Grand Wizard. The only things missing are the white sheets and burning cross. Anyway Jack is off shopping for transportation, working a deal with “Honest Joe’s Used Cars.” But it takes financial backing by Max to secure the deal for the 1917 Cadillac 55 Landaulet Coupe. “OK, this’ll get us around town if 2 folks are willing to stand on the running boards.”

Tuesday, June 4^th: A warm and inviting day as we head off for breakfast at a French deli. It’s still morning as we drive on to 79 Power Street to meet Josh Winscott. Beyond the rusty fence and broken gate stands a 2-story house sorely in need of repairs.

The porch steps creak as Steve approaches the door, knocking. Nothing. Another knock and the door creaks open. Eloise steps in, “Hello?” Rustling sounds from below then a reply, “Steve? Is that you?” We’re soon introduced to Josh caked in dirt (turned to mud from his sweaty exertion) still carrying a pickaxe. “Coffee? Coffee, yeah let me get you coffee” as Josh leads us into the kitchen. Coffee thick as mud. Josh is a chain-smoker; a thick cloud over him like a coal-locomotive chucking up a hill. “Quite the find. Yes, yes. I was renovating downstairs. Couple a waps doing the heavy stuff when they exposed a brick wall on the south side. May not sound like much to you, but I remember the rumors of tunnels throughout the city back in the slave-running days. This could be a historical find Brown University would be willing to pay dearly for. I’ll need your help documenting everything once I get through the wall. Come back tomorrow after you do some research. Say 11 o’clock; I ougha be ready to get back at it by then.”

As we start to leave, Eloise remarks (tongue-in-check), “I love what you’ve done with the place. Can’t wait to see your finished renovations.”

The group splits up the research between the Providence Athenaeum library and City Hall (for land/title records):

John Brown was an American merchant, slave trader, and statesman from Providence, Rhode Island. John was instrumental in founding the College of Rhode Island, built upon his own lands. He was a powerful defender of slave trading, clashing aggressively—in newspapers, courts and politics.

History of slaving tunnels dug throughout Providence, crisscrossing Brown land (under college and personal lands). Used to secretly move slaves to the riverbanks for loading aboard ships bound for the West Indies. More notes of John’s ancestor Obadiah Brown as master of shipping vessels in the West Indies trade.

Congress passed the Slave Trade Act of 1794, which prohibited the making, loading, outfitting, equipping, or dispatching of any ship to be used in the trade of slaves. Subsequently, on August 5, 1797, John Brown was tried in federal court as the first American to be tried under the 1794 law. Brown was convicted and was forced to forfeit his ship Hope.

Ironically, it was Nicholas Brown, Jr. (philanthropist and abolitionist) who donated gobs of money in 1804 that got the College of Rhode Island renamed to Brown University.

[From Steve, “I coulda told you that! I’m a Brown alumni.”]

City records detail transfer of Josh’s house. Originally owned by Obadiah Brown but sold to 40 year old Elysiah Winscott in 1796. Elysiah died 2 January, 1811; thus, house inherited by nephew Micah Winscott. Family fortune declined during Civil War as slave trading under scrutiny.

[City Clerk adds details, “Hell, there’s even rumors of a lost 1796 slave shipment. Slaves bought in DC but never made it to the ships to send south. Obadiah probably sold the house to cover his loses. Then there’s Elysiah’s death.  Mysterious; body never found. Probably killed for his illegal activities. Yeah, Winscotts were also into slavery. Profitable business in those days.”]

We wrap up the day’s research and return to the hotel. Jack has bought a house-warming gift for Josh: 2 bottles of scotch and 2 cartons of Camel cigarettes.

Wednesday, June 5^th: Another hearty breakfast, comparing notes, before our 11am appointment with Josh. The house silent; no answer to our knocks. So we enter finding darkness. Flashlights lead us to the open basement door and cautious descent of the stairs. The flashlight flickers through a man-sized hole on the south wall; Josh has busted through. Footprints tell his entry into the exposed tunnels.

Diana in the lead as the natural tunnel gently slopes down. Minutes pass before she stops at a branch. Rubble/garbage litters the dirt floor. Flashlight dances across tattered clothing, bones, and rusting chains. “That’s a femur bone! Another, another. And the clothing looks colonial.” Max surmises, “African bones.” Steve questions, “How can you tell white from black bones?!” White-men didn’t wear chains back then.

Barry calls out, “Over here. Cigarette butts. He climbed through this side tunnel.”

We soon come upon a constructed room. VERY old. Wall carvings…snake motif. Diana lets out a yelp as she recognizes figures bent in supplication to a LARGE snake.

Max calls out, “Josh? Mate?” Scrapping sounds from behind the walls…either side. Steve believes its Josh answering the call; so, he levels his rifle to blast at the wall! BAMM!! “Damn it Steve. Give us warning next time. Besides, sound from both sides. It’s not like Josh is running from one side to the next scrapping. Something else is behind the walls.”

At least we can no longer hear scrapping sounds. THAT’S BECAUSE WE’RE ALL DEAF from the gun blast in a closed area!

Barry takes the lead. More natural tunnels that soon open unto another constructed room. More carvings that fill the entire wall:

“This ain’t no slave tunnel. Those are dinosaurs. And snake people! These other carvings tell a story of the serpent people abandoning above-ground cities, moving underground to avoid the dinosaurs. See how the beasts try to push rocks down upon the snakes.”

Someone notices small footprints on the dirt floor. Fresh. Running. We follow. And teeter to a halt at the edge of a sloping dropoff. Jack knots a rope and anchors it with his grappling hook so we can climb down the 20ft slope. Our noise hiding the approach of 2 humanoids that confront Jack left alone at the top. Ghasts!

BLAM! Jack’s readied shotgun (extreme hit 30 points) only causes one to turn and run away. The other charges but misses with its claws. Jack gets a 2^nd shot off…the creature slumps then slides down the slope to the feet of the other explorers. “What the?!” It’s a Sanity check for all at the sickening sight of this bipedal aberration.

We continue forward. Thankful some have brought extra flashlight batteries as Barry’s flickers out. Another rectangular room. Crystal prisms imbedded in the walls spray the flashlight in all directions, even revealing the ceiling 150 feet up. Most curious is the bronze pipes lining the western wall. A chair (unlike any human chair I’ve ever seen!) stands before the base of the pipes. Is there a keyboard to this organ?

Eloise lets out a curdling scream as she raises her eyes to the tops of the pipes. Sanity fades as she spies human heads atop each of the 15 pipes…eyelids closed but the mouths opening and closing as creepy music begins to fill the room. She runs in fear. Jack manages to tackle her, holding her till she regains her composure.

We continue following the child’s footprints. Left, right, left…we stand before a LARGE cavern that looks like a farm. Small apelike creatures tend the gardens. We quietly back out to try another passage. Another room adorned with a huge statue…of a snake!

Diana is freaking out! “Why does it have to be snakes?!”Barry/Eloise/Diana/Steve are frozen in a dreamlike state (they later describe visions of snakes slizzering over and around them). Diana collapses from an overdose of snake images, to include the serpent god himself, Yig. (She now suffers from Ophediophobia – deathly fear of snakes).

Kyle has seen enough and seeks the end of the tunnels, “Aren’t the slave tunnels supposed to end at the river? That’s behind us to the west.” But lights ahead draw us forward.

Heat and humidity rise as we enter another room. Rugs piled on one side cuddling 3 baby apes. Another wall of shelves holding vials and bottles filled with green liquid. An alcove with vertical iron bars…”Josh!!” Prisoner. Steve rushes forward to free his friend but Josh has lost all sanity. Now a babbling idiot.

Barry steps toward the shelves to analyze the liquid, when a clawed hand reaches out from the opposing gate (magical portal) to grab him.

“I am S’syaa-H’risss. What are yooo doing here? The man. My guest. These potions dangerous. I wait for the heat so we can rise again. I’m hungry.” Barry flinches expecting to be the main course, when the snakeman reaches further, graps a baby ape, and pops it in his distended mouth as if it’s an olive.

Gunshots ring out but the slugs bounce off the scaly hide. In reply, S’syaa casts at Max who fired the 1^st shot. Max’s forehead erupts in blisters that burst; blood flows into his eyes blinding him. S’syaa then commands Diana to “kill them all.” She attacks Steve.

Barry considers running back from where we came, but scrapping sounds foretell the approach of other creatures. It’s a mad scramble to get the hell out…through the magical gate S’syaa entered from.  Jack leads the blind Max to the gate pushing him through. Barry tries to grapple Diana but is knocked aside. Meanwhile Kyle fights off a spell cast by S’syaa. He ain’t no fool as he rushes through the gate, followed by Barry. Eloise wrestles Diana close enough for Jack to push her through the gate before he and Eloise jump through themselves.

A hissing voice echoes though the gate, “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

We all lay in green pasture beside the Providence river, near the slum part of town. Where S’syaa has been stealing black babies for his meals and slaves.

Epilog: We pause to consider our next moves. Do we tell anyone what we’ve found? It’s graduation day as we approach the Brown University campus. We witness the students marching in an undulating line much like a snake moves! Steve remembers, “It’s the traditional ‘Snake Dance’. Oh. What do you suppose THAT tradition is based on? Could it be…?”

We decide to avoid telling the Brown University staff of our discoveries.