Derby Church

**Derby Church** was the Christian Church located in a small part of Southern England, known as Derby. The church is known for its distinctly dilapidated appearance and for its dangerous fire hazards. It is also known for its surrounding graveyard. Despite Derby Church being very unappealing, it was an immensely popular place for Christians to practice their religion. The graveyard surrounding it harboured many of Derby's deceased residents, one of which was Julia Hawthorne.

## Derby Church

### Inhabitants

Uthaine Tipps (formerly; deceased)Maid (Stone Cold) (formerly; deceased)

George Hawthorne (formerly; deceased)

Derby Church is no longer active, as it burned down sometime during the late 1990s by a serial arsonist. It is heavily implied that the graveyard surrounding Derby Church holds supernatural qualities.

## History

### Background

Derby Church was built by Belgian nuns originally intended to be a Sunday school for children in the mid-to-late 16th century. However, the church was later acquired by the Tipps family in 1779, who converted it to a Christian church and started a business where people who shared the Christian religion could engage in their practices.

Derby Church was known for being a major fire hazard. Due to its stained class window, the sun often caused fires inside of the church. None of which were strong enough to burn down Derby Church, and it is revealed that the worst fire that Derby Church had was one where a copy of the bible was destroyed. Due to the multiple fires, Derby Church became less and less appealing, taking on a greasy and intimidating appearance. The stone also turned to a dirty grey due to the fires.

At some point, the last living relative of the Tipps family, a man named Uthaine, acquired the church and became the owner. Uthaine was a necrophiliac and used the church as a front for him to abuse corpses. He also employed a Maid, whom he severely mistreated.

### *Stone Cold*

In the year 1947, Uthaine, who had owned Derby Church for some time, employed a recently released mental patient named George Hawthorne to be the caretaker of Derby Church. George's wife, Julia, was buried in the surrounding graveyard, and it is believed this is why he took the job. After introducing George to the Maid, Uthaine proceeded to knock her with his cane, hinting at his true nature. In the dead of night while George was looking at the gravestone of his wife, he saw a Woman in White go inside the church. George proceeded to be haunted by this woman (the ghost of his dead wife) to the point where he became violent and determined to murder the woman as he believed she was an intruder.

This culminated in George viciously murdering the Maid after a visual illusion by the woman. The Maid was pregnant and her unborn child survived the attack. All of this happened inside of Derby Church. When George went outside to gather his thoughts, he saw Uthaine digging up a corpse and preparing to have sex with it. Figuring out what Uthaine was doing and disgusted with his hideous intentions, George killed him as well. After the Maid's baby was born from her corpse, George placed the baby outside of Derby Church for it to be collected by the churchgoers in the morning.

He then proceeded to commit suicide inside of Derby Church, just as the ghost of his wife showed herself and he was reunited with her in heaven.

### After *Stone Cold*

The morning after, the bodies of George, Uthaine, and the Maid were discovered. They were taken to the local morgue whereas the baby was taken to a foster home. With the local Christians believing that Derby Church had been disgraced by what the media called "The Derby Church Massacre" or "The Derby Tragedy", Christians stopped attending the services provided by the church. As a result, the church was closed down and boarded up. The surrounding area, including the graveyard, were also made off limits to the public.

### Destruction

In the 1990s, a serial arsonist was on a rampage throughout the town of Derby. He took refuge inside of the graveyard surrounded by Derby Church as well as laying eyes on the church itself. In an attempt to lure emergency services away from his safehouse, the arsonist set Derby Church on fire. This fire ultimately proved too much for the building to handle, and it collapsed into a pile of bricks and memorabilia. The church was never rebuilt.

## Appearance

Derby Church is described as being covered in stained glass windows and is compared to a castle. It has multiple peaks on its roof and is made of stone. Due to the massive amount of fires throughout its lifetime, the colour of the stone turned from ruby to a dingy and dirty grey. It was also covered in greasy stains, likely from the remains of said fires. Derby's touch is compared to that of broken glass, and thats how it feels if a person were to touch its outside walls. The peaks on top of the church were so high that they blocked out the surrounding trees.

## Supposed supernaturality

It is heavily implied that Derby Church was marinated in some type of supernatural force. The evidence is given when the ghost of Julia Hawthorne rises from the grave, meaning that the supernatural prospects of Derby may come from the graveyard itself. That being said, Julia's corpse was only revived after Uthaine Tipps abused it, and so it is possible that mistreatment of Derby's purpose could be a trigger for horrible events to occur. Also, the church itself could possess magical properties, as the unborn child of the Maid survived its death after its mother was killed. It is unclear whether that is coincidence or if Derby Church let the baby survive.

It has never been confirmed whether Derby Church actually possessed supernatural qualities.