NaNo: The Hauntings of Garenger Manor

The Search and the Discovery

In comfort of his room Jonathan stayed up late that night reading through a decades worth of letters and journals belonging to Mrs. Garenger. It all was putting him to sleep in part. There was too much to read all in one night, Jonathan first skipped about before trying to read in order, but from the start it was obvious the two of them did not like each other at all.

The journal only started after the birth of their first child, to which she seemed more concerned with the science and effects behind having a child versus being a mother, making the journal more like a research a log. There was also much lamenting about missing her family and how much she did not like being here in the nothingness that was Barron Sways. She also very much did not like her husband nor many other people she had interaction with. It seemed he was the root of a lot of her problems, but at the same time Divina talked little about the circumstances and only undertones were what Jonathan had to go by.

The Journal also ended abruptly about six months after the death of their daughter Elizabeth though he had yet to read into any of that. Jonathan only managed to read through about eight months of information, stopping when he reached to where she reported her second pregnancy. It honestly was hard to read the lifeless tone in her writing as well as the script itself, the very few letters he recovered were more interesting overall and better glimpses into the time period. It seemed she came from a struggling family that tried to be as well off as they could, but the struggles were real as 1840's America was in the middle of growing pains and it seemed for most it was every man for himself.

Jonathan did manage to stay up quite late that night and in turn over slept some, but that was alright seeing as he needed to make a call to Mrs. Berns, leaving a rather nondescript message with their receptionist:

"Please tell her that I for sure have discovered the probable cause of the conflicts and that I am going to be needing several more days to get it resolved. Also, she doesn't need to bother her contractors come to explain the faults. I will give her another call either Monday or Tuesday morning with results."

After he hung up he went about with the rest of his plans, which not only included a stop at the General Store again for extras, but the records office which opened after 10.

There, he met Julie, a quiet and nearsighted woman who very well may have been born in this building as she was a living catalog of records, and had about as much sense of personality as one. But boy was she on top of it all.

Early township records? She had books for that.

Old Newspapers? There was boxes of those by date.

Property records and foundation lines? She had closets with rolls for that.

Birth and death records? You bet ya, she had a file drawers for that.

Arrest records and law enforcement reports? Well, no. Johnathan would have to go to the sheriff's station for that.

Alas, most official documentation housed here had only started in the mid 1860's as the Wyoming Territory started to become a concept and the particular area of land the town was settled on was in dispute between Wyoming and Idaho at different points in time. But upon pressing her more, and trying to crack a smile from the woman with his friendly charm (which did not seem to have an effect) she did delve deep into the archives to try and find him what information there was upon the early town and Mr. Garenger.

"The name Garenger has come up several times in different letters and writings from people, he was quite an influential man and owned several of the early farms here," she said.

"Yes, that I do know, but how? How did he come to have his money for funding such a venture?" Jonathan replied. "Did he buy all the land of Barron Sways? And from whom? Did he have a partner?"