| Welcome
to Dark Hollow Haunted Forest.
You
are cordially invited to visit these dark paths, but be warned:
here nightmares are made manifest, a forest where the dead walk.
Recorded history began in 1804 with the pirate Finneas
Falwart, aka Red Fallows,
captain of the H.M.S. Maleficent.
This legendary buccaneer pillaged from Vancouver to the Columbia
River until, seeking greater riches, he attempted an inland passage
along the then much-deeper Cedar River.
The
fate of Fallows and his crew is unclear, but native legends speak
of "...Angry gods (who) rose up in defiance against evil
men, until their bodies hung like drying salmon upon the trees."
(Ghost Tales of Maple Valley, Red Herring Press, 1987).
A
Century of Darkness
A
hundred years later, Phillipe Mauvais
arrived. This eccentric foreign aristocrat brought his
unusual family and, defying local opinion, began building a mansion
upon unhallowed ground. Within a year the house was finished, and
it began the village known as Carlofé
Township.
Carlofé
soon attracted dangerous characters from around the world: purveyors
of the occult, criminals on the lam, mad geniuses like Doctor
Carradine, and even Chuckles the Clown and his notorious Cirque
Macabre. 
The
evil that Phillipe Mauvais would have
gone unchecked, if not for the brave efforts of one challenger:
Professor Alrich Von Helsbane.
A
lone voice against supernatural threats, Helsbane suspected the
Mauvais Family had been infected with vampirism. He was right. Armed
with implements of righteousness, Helsbane was last seen marching
toward the Mauvais Family Crypt.
That
was over a hundred years ago.
Pandora Labs
Like
many early settlements along the Puget Sound, Carlofé Township
soon faded from memory. The forest wher e it stands grew
wild.
In 1944, near the close of World War II, the site became the home of Pandora Labs, founded by the grandson of the infamous Doctor Carradine. Despite rumors of illegal experiments from time to time, their work was seemingly benign––serving the government and agricultural sectors with genetic and chemical products.
Until recently.
All communication with Pandora Labs has ceased. Reports trickle in of a tight military quarrantine around the area. Speculation revolves around the lab's development of S.T.I.N.G, an inert by-product of nerve gas that proved a (supposedly) safe alternative to caffeine.
Pandora Labs has lost containment. The ecological effects to plant and animal life, including both the living and the dead, have yet to be seen.
The
Hollow Today
Where
and when the moniker Dark Hollow
began is unclear, but it seems appropriate. It is whispered that
on dark nights, echoes of ages past rise up to haunt the living.
Strange folk have taken residence among the shadows.
And now, with the tragedy of Pandora Labs, there is more than superstition roaming the woods. Despite the military's efforts, whatever is out there appears to be loose. And it is winning.
It
is up to you to decide if these stories are real.
Before visiting, please ensure that everything is in order: wills
drafted, graveyard plot and coffin purchased, final goodbyes made.
Good
luck.
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