Nightfall Terrace

Nightfall Terrace is arguably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, neighborhoods in Raven's Grove. Unlike any other part of the city, Nightfall Terrace is designed wholly with Gothic architecture. Buildings are uniformly grey, featuring sharply steepled roofs, castle-like towers, and harsh gables. Gargoyle peer and leer from almost every rooftop and atop skyscrapers statuary of angels battle twisted and frightening devils. Many of the locals complain that Nightfall Terrace is more prone to dense fogs and heavy rains than any other part of Raven's Grove. This odd weather phenomena is usually attributed to the Atlantic Ocean, which the Terrace lays directly exposed to with long docks and piers stretching out into the water.

## History and Demographics

Nightfall Terrace was officially established in 1901 with the coming of the Tackford and Plume shipping company. The company bought up most of the land from the state at an exorbitant cost, laying the foundation for homes and businesses meant to be utilized by the company employees.

As the company expanded so too did the neighborhood, being largely designed and built by the great Gothic architect Severus Meyers. It was during construction of what would become the History Lane Theater that workers uncovered a cache os hand-written letters that were signed Patricia Patterson and dated at 1822. The letters spoke of enigmas and horrible things, particularly how the native Chumash of the area cursed the land when white settlers took it from them through acts of violence. The letters, now famous as the Patterson Missives, gave specific details of haunting phenomenon, hulking shapes in the nearby woodlands, and strange lights seen flashing and hovering over the ocean.

The letters inspired the formation and founding of Gaslight in 1903, when British Dame Samantha Wainbridge, a women absolutely fascinated with the occult and Spiritualism, provided a more than generous grant for those involved with Gaslight to research and study the eerie phenomena. In 1904 the neighborhood was incorporated into Raven's Grove, and that same year saw an abrupt and unexpected outbreak of tuberculosis. The city promptly quarantined Nightfall Terrace, leaving the residents to fend for themselves. The building that was meant to be a theater instead became a hospital. 60 people died from the outbreak, and the quarantine was not lifted until 1907.

1926 saw an explosion of wealth and population in Nightfall Terrace thanks to the arrival of British born opera dive Rebecca St. James. Already famous throughout Europe, the Dive brought with her scores of Europe's wealthy and powerful to enjoy her once a week performances at the History Lane theater. Raven's Grove took in a tremendous am9ount of money because of the Diva, and she was an instant celebrity. Alas, the good times were not to last.

In 1928 Rebecca returned to her new home above the theater from a tour of Spain. She arrived earlier than anticipated and found her husband, Michael St. James in bed with Sarah Wooly, one of the theater ushers. Outraged by this betrayal, Rebeca shot her husband twice and shot Sarah once in the head. Then she calmly took a seat at her makeup table, had a cigarette and called the police, then turned the gun on herself.

Up until the modern day Nightfall Terrace continued to grow and expand quietly, but consistent in reports of strange and unusual unexplained activity. The reports throughout the following decades earned Nightfall Terrace a reputation of being haunted that rivals that of New Orleans. The 2010 United States Census demographic is that the neighborhood as 67.8 % White, 42.4% African-American, 12.6% Native American, 10.9% Latino, 8% Asian, and 0.5% Other Races.

## Politics and Local Government

Nightfall Terrace has been ranked as almost exclusively Conservative, though the residents pay little attention to politics expect to vote. Most of the residents of Nightfall Terrace are upper-class white collar workers, quietly going about their daily business with little thought given to the other neighborhoods or the city as a whole. Politics simply don't factor much to those whom live and work in Nightfall Terrace.

## Notable Places

Nightfall Terrace as many enticements for the tourist, especially ghost hunters and parapsychologists. The lavish beaches and resort hotels, however, draw in many tourists from around the world during the spring and summer months. The neighborhood is particularly notable for the following locations:

1. **The History Lane Theater**: Named as a historical landmark by the City of Raven's Grove in 1986, the History Lane Theater is one of the prize attractions to most. Privately owned and operated, the theater is open for tours from 10 o'clock until 4 PM on Mondays and Fridays. Those taking the tours are lead through the entire theater, with n usher that explains its rich history and the tragedies of the tuberculosis outbreak and the murder-suicide by Rebecca St. James. Predictably, there are many witnesses claiming paranormal experiences while on the tour. Doors are heard to open an close, footsteps are heard in the upstairs hallways, and there are quite a few witnesses claiming to have seen the full-bodied apparition of the Diva herself on the stage or in Box number Nine, her own private viewing box. Indeed, the theater is famous among paranormal researchers. It has been the subject of five books and featured on such television programs as *Phantom Hunters, Our Ghost Story, Most Terrifying Places in the USA,* and *Paranormal CSI*.
2. **The Shaw Occult Museum**: The Shaw Occult Museum was opened in 1962 by famed paranormal investigator team Sebastian Shaw, a demonologist, and his wife Judith, a psychic sensitive. Withe each investigation the Shaws conducted, they would always bring a haunted relic or object home with them and this gradually became the museum, which was made official in 1978. Both Shaws have since passed on, leaving the museum to be owned and operated by their daughter Rachel, whom is also famous around the country as a paranormal investigator and house cleaner. The museum is only open on Saturdays from nine AM to ten PM. The museum is located in the expansive basement and first floor of the home, while the second and third stories are Rachel Shaw's private home. The museum has over 100 allegedly haunted items and is very popular with tourists and locals alike.
3. **The Gaslight Foundation**: Grown from the generous funds of Dame Samantha Wainbridge in the late Nineteenth century, the Gaslight Foundation has become one of the richest libraries documenting the strange, bizarre, and inexplicable from around the world. The Foundations three story building is open to the public at all hours and although no books are allowed to leave the premises readers are free to stay as long as they like and educate themselves.Employees of the Foundation can also be consulted, the Foundation only employs experienced parapsychologists, researchers, investigators, and demonologists. For a fee, the Foundation can and will send out teams to conduct an investigation.
4. **Legerdemain**: is the largest occult and magic store in Nightfall Terrace, surpassing an astonishing three floors of books, tools, crystals, clothes; everything the aspiring witch or warlock needs to practice witchcraft or High Magic, Wicca, or whatever pagan beliefs he chooses to follow. Legerdemain is open only in the evening, from 5 PM until 5 AM. In addition to all the paraphernalia it sells it also employs a full-time staff of psychics, Tarot readers, and spiritual advisors. For those seeking even more esoteric experiences, the shop offers guided *experiences* using legal to use but not sell extra-sensory opening substances as pot and mushrooms for a sizable fee.
5. **Merryhill Cemetery** is the largest of the many graveyards in Nightfall Terrace, featuring staturay and mausoleums made by the famed stonemason Robert Emmett. The eleven acre cemetery is equally popular among the Goth residents both of Nightfall Terrace and the nearby Gaumont neighborhoods and teams of ghost hunters and paranormal investigators alike. Merryhill Cemetery is thought to be a hot spot of paranormal activity. Some believe that even the shades of Thomas Cutter and Anna Updike visit the beautiful monument erected here in their honor on the first full moon of every months, where they can be seen waltzing together around their memorial.

## Notable People

The following individuals inhabit the Nightfall Terrace neighborhood.

Rachel Shaw is the owner of the Shaw Occult Museum and something of a minor local celebrity. As a successful paranormal investigator, she has cleaned many homes of haunting phenomena and is probably most famous for the case of the Blackwell Demon, in which she confronted and defeated a powerful negative entity that had been harming the local Blackwell family. The 35 year old Miss Shaw has been featured on many television programs, both as a witness, hostess, and commentator.

**Chester A. Wainbridge** is a direct descendant of Dame Samantha Wainbridge, the founder of Gaslight. 60 year old Chester now finances and runs the Gaslight Foundation and ensures that the Foundations resources are always available to the public. Mr. Wainbridge is beloved by the Nightfall Terrace community, being known as the perfect gentleman with a heart of pure altruism. Mr. Wainbridge is considered a very eligible bachelor.

**Vanessa Anderson** is the owner and operator of The Rave, Nightfall Terrace's hottest nightspot. The product of a union between an American father and an Egyptian mother, Vanessa is endowed with stunning good looks and a personal magnetism that just leads people to her. She is the penultimate alpha female, which especially draws to her the needy and submissive. She is known for her cadre of human 'pets', men and women with total body painting which gives them the likenesses of a leopard, tiger, black panther, and snake. Vanessa herself is somewhat vertically challenged, being only five feet in height, but her daunting appearance and keen sense of fashion tends to override her height for those that would otherwise find it a distraction.

**Vaness Shakir**:The owner of Legerdemain is the exotically beautiful half-American, half-Egyptian, also known by her 'coven' name of Cleopatra. It's no secret that a lot of men whom otherwise would never get a girl come to the store just for the chance to be greeted by the stunning 22 year old and sit for tea with her, a free service she offers nightly to every customer.