Even-though the houses Morti found for us were all in a miserable,
dilapidated state, we decided to make the best of it.
Anything was better than having to live in the small dorms.
North Hall was the only one out of the four mansions to be remodeled.
Years ago a terrible fire engulfed the third floor and part of that floor
remained inaccessible behind boarded up doors.
Out of all the students moving into North Hall,
Bella and Hunter were the most optimistic about it.
Maybe that was because they were still so giddy in love with one another.
They'd fallen for each in high school and their love for one another
grew stronger with each passing day.
But they weren't alone in the mansion
Nina and her boyfriend, Colin, also moved in.
Sammy also moved into North Hall but didn't stay long,
moving to South Hall after meeting Julien.
For the first couple of weeks everything was quiet
as they got settled in and began Senior classes.
The house was packed with some very cool antiques.
But that didn't impress anyone much,
to them it was just a house full of old, worn out furniture.
But to Bella, she loved being surrounded by such a unique collection
of antiques and she spent a lot of time walking through the house,
checking out all the rooms and wondering what might have
happened in the big mansion so many years ago.
It filled her mind so much that she wrote about it daily in her diary
The students were so busy with classes and getting their
term papers written they had no idea that since the first day
they moved in,.....they were being watched.
Bella was the first one to feel a "ghostly" presence in the house
and she told Hunter all about it.
He and the others weren't ready to believe anything like that
and Bella found herself all on her own in finding out the history of the house.
She checked out books from the library and read up on
the history of the campus and what the
property was used for before the college purchased it.
It came as quite the surprise to find out that the property and mansions
were once owned by none other than the Goth family!
And it was how Morti was able to get such a deal on the rent for them.
The original property owner was Horatio Xavier Goth III,
a great- great uncle of Morti's that had come
to Pleasantview from the Old County decades ago.
Horatio purchased the land with a plan to transform the property into
his own personal mecca parallel to Pleasantview.
And he named Pleasantview's brand new neighboring town -
Gothville.
He built the four gigantic mansions exactly the same distance
from each other at the very furthest part of town.
Horatio and his wife, Beatrice would live in the mansion to the West,
their oldest son, Vladamir, in the mansion to the South,
their youngest son and middle child, Fredrich, would have the East mansion
and their only daughter, Prissandra would live in the North mansion.
This fueled the curiosity of Bella to point of almost being obsessed
with not only the mansion they were renting, but all of the campus property.
When the books couldn't offer enough info she took to calling around
some of the history professors in the hopes that she could find out more.
The professors didn't have much to tell her that she hadn't already read
in the books but one of them did give her a hopeful lead -
there was a professor that retired quite a few years back that just might
have more information on the subject -
and her name was Professor Zelda P. Terwilligher.
Bella was given the number of Zelda's son and she wasted no time in calling.
It took some doing but eventually Bella was able to convince Zelda's son
to allow her to come over and talk to Zelda about the history of the house.
Bella was quite deflated in the stipulations Zelda's son placed on her visiting
his mother, he would only allow Bella to talk to his mother for ONE hour
and she couldn't bring anyone else with her.
She had to come alone.
Bella had to travel all the way to Veronaville.
Zelda lived in a quaint little retirement home in a very remote part
of Veronaville, an area Bella never even knew existed.
Upon meeting Zelda, she understood better about the 1 hour limit
that her son had placed upon her visit with the Professor.
Zelda was very old, less than a month away from turning 103
and she struggled quite a bit to stay awake, dozing off often while they talked.
No pix were allowed
so there are none to share of Bella's meeting with Zelda
but the story Zelda shared with her painted quite the interesting pix.
Zelda's mother, Gertrude Pleasant, (better known as Gertie back in the day),
was the best friend of Horatio and Beatrice's only daughter, Prissandra Goth.
They were BFF's from the time they were little girls and she had first hand knowledge of what took place in the North Mansion so many years ago.
Gertie kept a diary and wrote in great detail about those days so long ago
and that diary was passed down to Zelda after Gertie died.
Zelda allowed Bella to look through the diary but no way would
she allow her to borrow it or copy excerpts from it.
Whatever information Gertie's diary possessed,
Bella was stuck with having to memorize all the details.
Horatio and Beatrice were the richest family in all of Gothville,
(and even Pleasantview), and the four mansions built were the biggest
homes anyone had ever seen before, (anywhere!)
The mansions were completed while Prissandra and Gertie
were still in high school. At the time Gertie was dating Fredrich Goth and
Prissy was going steady with a local boy, a real suave, handsome charmer.
One that all the girls in town swooned over and sent love notes to.
His name was Lon Dothario.
It was a relationship that Horatio and Beatrice did NOT approve of
but Prissy was their precious little princess and whatever Prissy wanted,
Prissy got - they allowed the relationship, but with much apprehension.
Soon after graduating high school, Prissy announced that her and Lon were engaged to be married. The news spread across the land like wild fire
and Horatio and Beatrice began preparing, (reluctantly),
for the most elaborate, fancy wedding their town had ever seen!
By this time Zelda's mother, Gertie was also engaged to Fredrich, the youngest Goth son and was also set to be Prissy's Maid Of Honor at the wedding.
The whole town of Gothville was busy preparing for the big event.
The wedding was held in the North Mansion.
Every inch of the place was lavishly adorned with blood red roses
and lit candles everywhere the eye could see.
Upon marrying, the mansion would become Prissy and Lon's home.
Prissy would be the first of the three Goth children to take possession of one of the mansions built especially them and that was BIG news!
Everyone in town showed up for the nuptials -
No cost was spared and the North Mansion looked like a magical castle
built for a beautiful Princess with harps being played
and a children's choir singing sweet long songs.
There were long tables filled with fancy food and lavish drink
prepared by some of the land's most talented and famous chef's.
The mansion was packed with guests
with everyone dressed in their fanciest attire, the whole town was there!
The bridal party consisted of 9 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen -
with Gertie and Fredrich standing as Prissy's Main of Honor and Lon's Best Man.
But there was one very important person missing -
Lon Dothario, the infamous groom!
Everyone thought for sure that it was nothing more than a case
of a nervous groom running late
and that Lon Dothario would eventually show up.
But Horatio Goth, who didn't trust Lon Dothario from the first
moment he'd laid eyes on him, wasted no time in calling together
a posse to hunt down the missing groom.
But as much as the posse searched for Prissy's fiance high and low -
Lon Dothario was no where to be found.
