A few folks still remember that a kind-of family lived out there where nobody belongs. They will tell you about a tragedy. That started with a fire and ended with another reason the place is called Nightmare Hollow. A long time ago, some new folks came into town. They said they were living up nearby Hollow point.
They bought feed at the market for pigs and chickens sometimes. They were nice enough when they were in town. They were always asking local businesses and folks walking along for any building scraps to take back and fix up their hand-made place. Folks said that they sometimes all had a bad smell and a wild-dazed look. They all smiled the same smile and walked with the same shuffle.
A lady deacon in the local church saw them walking in town and swore they were possessed. Most of the people in town just thought they were some kind of new-age hippies. It wasn’t unusual for new faces to join the regular ones from time-to-time when in town for supplies. Locals had betting pools on how many might be living up there. While there may have been some local fun poked at them and some local gossip about them, no one put much effort into knowing them. After all, they were living up near the Hollow.
One day the police from a town over came looking for some missing teens. This wasn’t the first time police or even the county Sheriff had been up to check on those strange folks who called themselves a family. They went up to Hollow point to try and ask some questions. What they found was a sprawling makeshift house half swallowed by flames.
Soon, there was a huge flood of news reporters that buzzed around town but could not get close to the devastation and law enforcement quickly became close-lipped. Soon the buzz died down and the story turned into another local legend and another reason nobody who knows goes to Nightmare Hollow. Years later, a retired Deputee had moved back for a few months to handle his aunts’ last affairs. He confided in a few old buddies that there were dozens of bodies found under the ashes of the house. He told tales of cryptic art collections, strange Idol worship, underground tunnels and a slaughterhouse built for both pigs and people.
Today, among the stories like the Witch Woods of Hollow Grove, The Stink Ape, and The Mist Moth. There are unbelievers. Most everyone believes in the curse of that burned ruin its owners called Darkwoods Manor. It’s cursed because it was built right at the end of Nightmare Hollow. It didn’t take long for those who lived there to go insane. K. Chuck Fuller is a local and one of the last great old southern storytellers. He has a repository of Nightmare Hollow lore that goes back over 100 years. He swears to this day that the tunnels under those ruins allowed for the escape of some of the demented Darkwoods Family. He maintains that their descendants are still living wild in the Hollow, twisted in both mind and body still butchering people like pigs. On foggy nights you can see their dim lights moving through the woods. That’s why no one who knows goes up to Hollow point where the madness still lives in Nightmare Hollow.
