WHAT IS HELL’S CHASM
The country’s most popular tabloid once called it the most haunted town in the most haunted state in the entire country. Welcome to Hell’s Chasm, Massachusetts, a sleepy and isolated town nestled in the rocky chasm of the Berkshires.
Once a sacred Indian burial ground, Hell’s Chasm was the site of the most brutal slaughter on American soil – the Narragansett Massacre of 1649. When a group of pilgrims followed a stream inland they unwittingly walked through the burial ground and the local Indians took it as an act of war. It was a fatal mistake. Not one of the 72 pilgrims made it out alive.
After the massacre the chasm was a place feared and thought to be haunted. It was feared in part because of the slaughter, but mainly because of the bloodcurdling screams of the dead which echoed through the valley during every storm. The colonists traveled miles out of their way to avoid even the fringes of the chasm during daylight hours. Not even the bravest of men dared to venture within miles of the chasm after sunset.
The chasm lay untouched for five decades, until the Salem witch trials. In the early months of the trials a group of seven accused witches managed to escape their prison but they knew that they could not outrun the witch hunters who followed them on horseback. Desperate to escape, the seven headed for the chasm, hoping they would not be followed. Their gamble paid off- it was a windy stormy night and the screams could be heard for miles. The hunters refused to enter the wicked place.
The accused would later confess that they almost turned away themselves from fear but their leader urged them on, knowing that in the chasm lay their only chance of survival. These three women and four men founded what is now the town of Hell’s Chasm. They were soon joined by others , outcasts who like them who fled the persecution and death of the trials. After the furor of Salem abated the settlers stayed on and, to the chagrin of the Salem eldermen, the town prospered.
Despite the fact that the town has continued to grow, Hell’s Chasm has never lost its stigma. Through the years the ghosts stories and myths have continued to accumulate. It is the home of at least three urban legends, and in the last ten years at least four groups of college students have reportedly traveled to the town and vanished without a trace. Holy water evaporates at the edge of the chasm for reasons unknown and the temperature never dips below freezing. The town remains a place of fear and mystery to many.
When the wind whistles through the rocks the screams of the slaughtered pilgrims can still be heard.
And here our stories begin…….
The Homecoming - Ten years ago Kayleigh O'Connell was an innocent 6 year old sleping at her friend's house. But in the dead of night the ghost of her brother carried her to safety while the family inside was sluaghtered. Sheltered by her parents for the last decade, Kayleigh finally has her first taste of freedom when her parents travel abroad. But soon it becomes clear that someone wants to finish what they started 10 years ago. Someone wants Kayleigh dead.
