Weiner Alptraum - The Origins of The Ghost

***After an examination of the crime scene, we found that there are a total of four dead people in the house; a man, most likely the patriarch of the family, his wife and two sons of theirs. All four bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. The Man has his facial skin missing, his torso is split open revealing an open and emptied ribcage. The heart and*** ***lungs are missing, possibly taken away by the culprit. The man's guts are laid out all over the living room floor in a spiral fashion. It is most likely that the man died from the brutal torture he was put through. The woman's limbs were*** ***torn off with brute force and it appears that she tried to crawl away from the culprit as evident by the trails of blood behind her body. She must have died from blood loss; one of the boys seemingly had multiple bones including his neck broken in a beating. It appears the culprit is a physically powerful person possibly an athlete, considering the force needed to commit such acts. The other boy was alive when we entered the house albeit having the whole front side of his body skinned, he died a few moments after we arrived. Fortunately, there is a survival, a third child of the family, a little girl. Seems like she saw the whole thing while hiding in her closet as she was able to give us some details about the culprit, She said she was a short hooded figure with half shut, as if sleepy, brown eyes and an unfading diabolical smile. Another important detail the girl was able to give us is a sentence the culprit said before leaving the crime scene, it was "Committed with love from Vienna" this is a clue left by a mysterious murderer the authorities have been tried to catch in the past few years. It's yet to be known whether the culprit knew about the girl's presence or not, however we're going to put her under protection just to be thorough.***

In the 1440s in a small village in the outskirts of Vienna, by the name of Gelbfort, which was named after the castle in its center, lived a family quite unusual for the time. One might even look at it as a blasphemous family because the first born, her own father, Dietrich, as a hunter, a strictly male occupation at that period, raised a young woman by the name of Elizabeth. The whole family was quite religious and Elizabeth's upbringing as a hunter was a result of her father’s belief that her naturally extremely keen sight and superb dexterity were gifts from God.

Three knocks had been heard on the door one morning and young Hans rushed to open it, when he opened the door he saw an elderly man close to his fifties standing at the doorstep. The man was wearing expensive clothing and had multiple rings on his hand. Hans saw the man and greeted him good morning. The man kneeled down, put his hand on the child's head and asked, "Where is your father, my boy?"

Before the child could answer his father, Dietrich showed up and the front room and recognizing the old man rushed to the doorstep and claimed, "Lord Von Gelbfort, please enter my modest home".

The man rose up and said, "No need for formalities, I’ve known you since you were a child, Dietrich, you're almost like a son to me, call me Rudolf".

At that moment, Elizabeth came out of her room and called "Good morning, father".

The nobleman noticed the young lady and said, "You must be Elizabeth, my my, you've grown to be a fine woman".

Elizabeth smiled, and answered, "and you must be Lord Von Gelbfort" before bowing gracefully to the man.

He just noted, "What a keen eye, to recognize me after fifteen long years, you're truly something!"

Dietrich then rubbed his daughter's hair and said, "This girl is my pride and joy" to which Elizabeth smiled gleefully. The hunter then proceeded to ask, "What would you need with me, sire?"

The nobleman said, "A hunt, for the sake good old times, I’ve just come back home last night and I need to see if I can do it right, come with me, you're the best hunter I know". The hunter immediately agreed.

In seeing so, Elizabeth asked him, "Can I come with you, father?" the nobleman's eyes widened in shock due to the question he just heard.

The hunter answered to his daughter, "Of course, dear"

The response drove Von Gelbfort further into shock which made the nobleman exhaled in terror "This is blasphemous! How can a woman hunt?!"

Elizabeth smiled and told the elder noble, "God gifted me with certain skills, I but use them, how is this blasphemy, sire?" The nobleman had nothing to say so he just lowered his head as a sign of agreement with the young woman.

The group consisting of Dietrich, Lord Rudolf and his son Charles, Elizabeth and a few mercenaries of the lord gathered their equipment, mounted the horses and set out to the local forest where they let out dogs to find a pray and chase it in their direction. Once the barking was heard, again the group commanded their horses to move in the direction of the barking. After a few minutes, an elk was in the group's sight. The men started loading their bows and shoot only to miss. Elizabeth just kept her eyes on the elk, until it was about twenty feet away from her, then she strung her bow, pulled out an arrow, placed it on the string, aimed at the elk and when she was at a distance of ten feet from the animal, she released the string. The arrow crooked and spun through the air until it hit the animal, pierced it through the neck hitting an artery and killing it. The impact sent the animal flying a few feet back oozing blood all over the air. Everyone just stopped and stared a few moments at the girl who was placing her bow on her back and said, "Gentlemen, lunch will be served soon!"

After that moment, Charles just could not lay his eyes off Elizabeth.

Since the hunt was complete, the group decided they should start a makeshift camp to eat their prize; it was a fine male elk, a large one at that. Dietrich and Elizabeth began preparing the meal together, once the meat was placed on fire Charles asked Elizabeth if he could have a moment of privacy with her and she agreed to take a walk with him and he asked her to lead the way.

After about five minutes of silent walking when the cheers of hungry men went silent, Elizabeth decided she should ask what he wanted to speak of. As she turned around to ask Charles what he wanted to talk about he tackled her to the ground and mounted her saying, "Such a beautiful talented woman should be rewarded by best there are"

Trying to strip her of her clothing. she was resisting him to no avail, he managed to pin of her arms to the ground but then she scratched out his left eye with the other. The pain made Charles fall off the girl and she got up and ran back to the makeshift camp, once she got there she screamed "That boy forced himself on me"

Before anyone could figure out what was going on a bloodied Charles was at the camp and cried that Elizabeth went insane and randomly attacked him. Lord Rudolf decided to listen to his son and punish Elizabeth, Dietrich picked up a knife and threatened to kill anyone who would dare touch his daughter, but a bunch of angry mercenaries stopped him. The hunter had to give up as his daughter was being dragged away, she tried to resist and was hit on the back of her head, passing out the last thing she remembered was her father on his knees, weeping "Im sorry, Elisa, I'm so sorry"

Elizabeth woke up in a dark stony place, she got up to her feet and called, "Is there anybody here?"

A man voice answered, "Oh finally the fresh meat woke up, now we can fun".

The young woman probed the ground for anything she could use to defend herself on an instinct and grabbed a rock from the ground. Once she had risen up she saw a man's figure looming over her own, she just growled and hit the man in the face with the rock she picked up, he fell on the ground but she did not stop, she jumped on top of the man and kept beating his head while exhaling air loudly like an animal. After a few hits the man was out cold and his face was bloodied but Elizabeth just kept pounding and pounding until his brains were splattered all over the cold floor, only then, after his head was completely bashed, Elizabeth got up from the man and set at a corner trying to calm herself down.

Suddenly a deep voice from the distance was heard, "You are something, girl... to kill this guy like that".

Elizabeth shouted back "Who are you? What do you want?"

The deep voice got closer and it said, "My name is Otto and I’m not going to hurt you..." a man in his thirties with a bloodied white shirt and countless wounds all over his body appeared from the distance, he asked, "What did you do to get in here?"

Elizabeth answered unsurely, "Gouged the eye of that rich bastard".

Her statement made him crack, as he began laughing and called, "Hear that, boys? She’s one of ours..."

Suddenly a group of people came out from the dark greeting and introducing themselves to Elizabeth, after that Otto either explained to her that she is in the Gelbfort dungeon and she will be tortured or killed there.

At nightfall, the inmates decided it would be a good idea to sing and so they began disturbing the residents of the castle above with their shrill, hoarse voices and terrible singing. Charles could only take so much that he was eventually forced to march down with a guard. As he reached his destination, he was stricken with shock once he realized Elizabeth is alive and well and cried, "Why is this whore still able to stand? Why isn’t she being raped stupid?"

Elizabeth launched herself at the wooden bars holding the inmates in their cell, widened a smile and gleefully said, "They like my work, how’s that eye by the way?" Charles took a deep breath and said, "Alright, young lady, you either accept me as your man or burn at the stake."

Elizabeth answered without hesitation, "Burn... me..." Charles smiled sadistically, and said, "Fine then, at dawn, you burn" and left with the guard.

The next morning Elizabeth was awoken by the sounds of guards calling "Hey wake up, witch!", they dragged her out of the dungeon and into the street where she was tied to a huge wooden cross on a gigantic pyre.

Lord Von Gelbford was there and started carrying out a speech, "It is an unfortunate day for all of us, that this young woman should be burned for sins, for her blasphemous behaviors and the renunciation of our God"

Elizabeth could not believe what she was hearing, and she shouted, "They've killed me because I hurt their pride! It is just a murder! Hahaha"

Lord Von Gelbfort continued, "You see, my dear friends? She’s speaking nonsense, possessed by demons... I hope... I truly hope... that... that her soul gets sent to heaven after her mortal body is burned".

The pyre was then lit on fire and started heating the air beneath Elizabeth and producing smoke, both factors caused her to suffocate and she could feel her lung capacity shrinking before the fire even reached her legs, she started bleeding due to suffering from a smoke toxication and the destruction of her inner tissues. She yelled, "My insides, they burn, they rot, they're now as black as the souls of these people", staring at the noble men and their mercenaries.

At that point, the fire reached the girl's legs and her skin began to turn red, then blister and crack, her blood went black wherever the fire touched her exposed arteries and flesh. The young woman's flesh was being roasted and turned into a black, yellow goo about ten minutes after she started burning her whole body was covered in flames, and the sound of bone cracking could be heard, her screams went silent.

Her body looked like a mass of dark red and black goo coupled with a mixture of cracked and blistered flash and some exposed brown bones. At this point, after she surely died, Elizabeth suddenly regained conscience but she could not feel anything, she just saw people staring in fear beyond the fire. All she could feel, was a voice, she heard this voice, deep, majestic voice calling her name, "Elizabeth..."

She was filled with joy, she thought she reached heaven, and then the voice said, "You were pious and loyal, you receive a second chance my child..." and she started laughing maniacally until everything faded out and turned black again.

About a week after the burning of Elizabeth, the daughter of Dietrich the Hunter a loud bang woke the inmates of the Gelbfort dungeon in the middle of the night. Otto and Wolfgang rushed to the wooden bars to see who is making the noise but what they saw make them fall on the ground and they started trying to crawl backwards. To the rest of the inmates it was clear they were mumbling something, as they were moving away from the bars.

All of the other inmates were puzzled until they saw a hooded figure open the bars, once the figure raised its head all the men were stricken with extreme fear one of the men exhaled fearfully, "How is this possible.... are you a ghost?"

The figure chuckled a bit and responded by saying "Is that how you greed a friend?!" and chuckled again.

The figure then said, "Tonight men, it matters not what I am now or how I came to be amongst you again, all that matters is I set you free! However before we part ways, I want you to raze this place, destroy everything in your path but leave Rudolf and Charles to me" The men became overcome by the idea that they execute vengeance just ran out screaming like maniacs and ravaging anything that they came across, and the figure just stood there, laughing hysterically.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, the figure started going upstairs ignoring all the mayhem around it until it reached Rudolf's bedroom. The figure pushed the doors open and they simply fell off, Rudolf who was already shaken with fear due to the prisoner revolt in his home simply became frozen in terror at the sight he had witnessed. He tried to say something but just could not make a sound for many long seconds, and the figure just stood there smiling at him, its half shut, as if sleepy brown eyes and diabolical smile were a sight he could not believe. Eventually the old nobleman manage to ask in a shaking voice, "E... li... za... be... th... ho... how..."

The figure calmly replied, "Someone with real power brought me back to haunt you" and proceeded to walk towards the shaken nobleman who by then was pinned against the wall.

Elizabeth pulled out a sharp metal rod from her sleeve and pierced him through the arm, then she pulled another one and pierced him through the leg and so she kept piercing him another sixteen times avoiding vital spots to make sure he stays alive. After making sure the old nobleman stays immobile, Elizabeth left the room for a few minutes in which Rudolf kept bleeding and weeping for his life.

He was not lucky enough as Elizabeth came back holding a large kettle full of boiling water. She smiled at the once sturdy nobleman who by that point looked to her like nothing more than an anguished pig and bluntly asked, “Would you like to try the water?”

The moved his head from side to side in disagreement, but she just spilled some hot water on his legs making him scream at the top of his barely functioning vocal cords. She then proceeded to put the kettle on the floor and violently jerk the man through the metal rods and head first into the kettle holding him in place until the water turned completely red and then she dropped his bloody body on the floor.

Just as she raised her face, she saw Charles trying to run away. Once their eyes met, he froze dead in his tracks and his skin turned pale, Elizabeth smiled, tilted her head to the right and asked sarcastically, "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost" before walking up to him and kissing him gently on the lips.

His pleasure did not last long as she grabbed Charles by his jaw and yanked it down tearing his cheeks and jaw muscles in the process, making him shriek in a disturbing manner from the pain. She proceeded to drag him to the bed in Rudolf's room by his torn jaw.

Once he was set, she pulled a dagger and cut of his eyelids making sure he will see whatever she is doing to him.

Elizabeth placed the knife at the top of Charles chest and pressed on the handle, pushing it into his flesh making him shriek and roar in agonizing pain, he tried resisting but she just kept holding his body in place. With the dagger deep inside his chest, she rolled it inside his body making him shake and twist and turn as he shrieks and roars like a dying animal. Elizabeth then looked at his tearful eyes and said to him, "Let’s make this more intimate!"

Her never fading smile had gotten even wider when she climbed on top of him and dragged the dagger down his chest cavity causing him to spasm violently. Elizabeth leaned in closer to him and said, "Aren't we having fun", before she shoved her hands under Charles' skin and broke his rib cage, open making him scream so loud he destroyed his vocal cords. She then proceeded to grab his lungs and push them through his broken rib cage almost killing him in the process.

Elizabeth realized he is going to die soon as she saw how much blood she had splattered all over the bed and walls and how Charles' heartbeat was slowing dying down. She let go of his wing shaped lungs and pulled her hand out of his ribcage while saying, "Now fly... down to hell... my fallen angel", before shoving her hand back deep into his chest cavity and crushing his heart making it spray blood as high as the ceiling.

Afterwards she got up from Charles' dead body and walked into the fireplace, which caused an explosion that ended up burning Gelbfort to crisp.

As of today, there are no remnants of Gelbfort and there are very limited sources about Elizabeth Dietrichsditter. Now, you might be wondering how do I know all this stuff… Well, my dear readers, you never know who is writing this stuff for ya, do you? The answer you must be seeking after reading the beginning of this paragraph, might, or might not, be found in the body of the passage.

Quoth the Spectre, Nevermore!