Wednesday, October 20, 2021

To Benight & Beguile: NEWS













November 10th
DOCKSIDE SLAYINGS 
Investigators Continue to Search for Clues
By: Baxter Murphy

The heinous crimes that occurred dockside early last week have sent shockwaves through our little port village and island. Investigators continue to search for clues as to what could have done such a thing to two men, a father and son fishing crew, who were set to sail just that morning on an expedition towards Newfoundland 

The victims, Carl and Harold Winslow of Welshport, were gutted and horribly disfigured in the attack. Constable Gregory Reigns described the attack as a slaughter. Locals who were present at the scene echoed this sentiment. 

The question of what could have done this continues to float around the village, but in my own previous article on this disturbing dastardly murder, points to a who rather than a what. 

That’s right, fellow Welshportonians, the Lord family continue to keep silent on the whereabouts of their golden son Sebastian and whether or not he is alive. As for the rumors he died in the fire two years ago in a cottage owned by his Grandmother Mrs. Rebecca Lockwood-Lord-Casador, evidence has yet to surface to support this aside from taking the word of the family, who if we believe, says his body was not salvaged from the scorched cabin home. 

And why, friends, should we believe that story over his own wife’s admission that he is the one who saved her from certain suffocation in a premature grave? As stated in the previous article, my source clearly heard Mrs. Evangeline Lord confess this to the family in clear and coherent words. 

As unscrupulous and dangerous as my own words might seem here and in my last column which runs in a paper owned by the very family I accuse of hiding something from all of us, I say again Sebastian Lord is alive and is a murderer! 

Where then may he be? Why are they hiding him if he is not the ripper of the docks? And why hasn’t our Constable even entertained Sebastian as a possible suspect? The reason for at least the last question is simple: the Lord family tentacles reach even our own law enforcement as Constable Reigns is currently in a relationship with Sebastian’s own mother in law Mrs. Aurora Jordan. 

The fix is in — and how many more of our own towns people are we willing to sacrifice until we force the Lords and those they control to finally give up the ghost? Or shall we say give up the creature killing us? 

The clock is ticking friends, who’s next? 







OCTOBER 30th
THE LORDS: A FAMILY OF SECRETS & SCANDAL
By Baxtery 

Over the course of the fall, the prominent family that runs the powerful publishing empire, which includes this paper in its portfolio, has seen a myriad of scandal rock its family tree. 

Over a decade ago, David Lord, the great-great grandson of the founder of Lord Publishing, went missing after he was accused of the murder of his wife Sabrina on the beach near the North Shore Cliffs. Rumors swirled David was insane but no one knows for sure. 

Following the David & Sabrina saga, Jacob Lord (another of the founder’s great-great grandsons) had a child out of wedlock with a woman who’s reputation seemed low grade in comparison to Jacob’s usual blue blooded paramours. Needless to say the child remains in the custody of the Lords, now 14 years of age. 

All of this preamble to the devastating shooting & supposed death of Sebastian Lord at his own wedding. The family then revealed a bizarre tale of a kidnap for ransom that proved Sebastian alive only for him to suddenly, and yet again strangely, die of illness just before his new son’s birth. 

And this, dear reader, is only the tip of the strange and odd iceberg of the Lord family. More recently it was revealed through rumors that Albert Lord had a son via an affair — this son now works for the Publishing House. 

Keeping it in the family indeed.

Did I mention Rebecca Lord’s admission to the Asylum? Her mind finally cracking under the pressures of her family slow creep into the abyss of darkness, secrets, backstabbing and madness. 

The heirs of the Lord dynasty have truly flipped the Tyrimôr mansion upside down and the graves of all their ancestors might be turning just as turbulently if the days go on as they are.

Friends, these are the people we revere on this island. The closest we have to royalty some say. And yet I wonder, have we given the first family of Welshport too much reverence? Too much clout? Too much prestige?

As winter comes — we shall see how this family proceeds. Will they sink further into that deep abyss they’ve become so aligned with? Or will they rise up and free themselves out from under the watchful eye of us their public.

Let the winter tell us. Let the winter separate fact from fiction & rumor from truth.

  




  


JULY 19th
POWERFUL STORM HITS WELSHPORT
By Baxter Murphy, Editor

Amid a sudden storm that has hit the upper east coast of the United States there is word of a possible ship lost at sea. The fish trawler, one of several of the local fleet, left the marina early morning and was headed out to an area of the North Atlantic not uncommonly used for deep-sea tuna fishing. 
Led by local captain Matthew Winterborn the ship carried a crew of 12. 

Mr. Winterborn is a seasoned sailor as much of his crew is too. The trawler reported no signs of bad weather before embarking on their latest haul to sea. The Fishing fleet had no plans of docking the ship in the early morning sail off because weather seemed fine. 

Communications have been cut to the ship and it's crew and hopes are that they'll somehow make it back to shore safely just as the island suffers major outages due to the sudden storm that seemed to come out of nowhere. Reports of the storm's possible damage are unknown. Other states around the area have not reported any such storm in their area, which too, has added to the strangeness of the tempest. 

Local weather watchers are baffled and were caught off guard by the quickness of the storm's upheaval and forecasts did not predict, not only the storm itself, but also the massive strength of the storm which seems to be swirling over the Frenchman Bay of Maine in just the area above our two small islands. 

More to report as the storm continues to batter both Welshport and Goode Islands. 










APRIL 26th
NEW CHARACTERS COMING
As The Welshport Globe's Editor BAXTER MURPHY takes a break from his duties, we're happy to announce THREE new Characters coming to town in BOOK4! Coming soon:

MORGAN THORNE, JACQUELINE GRAY and Ft. DONAVON RYAN. 

These three will be interictal parts to three very different plot points. COME BACK SOON TO FIND OUT more about our new Welshportonians! 



  





January 5
LORD HEIR DEAD---AGAIN!
By Baxter Murphy, Editor

The curious case of the many lives of Sebastian Lord continues to perplex this reporter on a daily basis. Recently, his wife (now widow) the very English Evangeline Jordan-Lord was seen at the Village Hall in the records room filing for Sebastian's death certificate. Odd? We'd say so too. The Lords, full discloser own this paper, have said that his kidnapping a year ago and switch with some sort of look-alike who was shot and killed at the wedding was a rouse to trick the family into ransom.

That crime, never solved. Also the rather quick acquittal of Rebecca Lord of her own son's shooting. That crime also never solved.

It's now then we turn to when the REAL Sebastian supposedly returned, and now his widow files for his alleged death due to illness.

Illness?

No funeral. No church ceremony.

Odd again, wouldn't you agree? Considering Rebecca Lord is attached to her rosery beads for dear life.

Welshport Village is no stranger to the bizarre and strange. We've lived with it as citizens all our lives. Our ancestors had their own issues with the unexplained over the 200 years since this village's inception. But has it all just reached a very strange point of no return?

The question I ask in this column, here in now dear reader is this: What in the world is REALLY going on with the Lord family and their quickly vanishing heirs.

Keep your eyes here, the curious cases are sure to beguile us into the near future.








DECEMBER 12
REBECCA LORD ARRESTED!
BY: BAXTER MURPHY, EDITOR

In Yet another strange turn of events, in the shooting at Village Park earlier this fall of former Constable Christian Evans and Jacob Lord, our sources here at the Welshport Globe have heard that Jacob's own mother has been arrested and taken into custody for the shooting. Our sources also say that Jacob himself, who had since the shooting lost parts of his memory, regained something of that night and pointed to his mother as the guilty one. 

The Lords are a family that are no strangers to infighting over the years, but this seems extreme even for them. In other words, as I've stated in this column before, there must be other factors at play in this bizarre family dispute. 

Mrs. Lord was taken into custody under the cover of darkness, possibly a privilege to her as to keep away the prying eyes of eager Welshportonians. She is currently inside the Town Jail awaiting formal charges from the district attorney who has yet to arrive from the mainland to asses the case. If there even is one.

Yet again, dear readers, we wonder here if what we're seeing is truly justice being served or perhaps are the arms of our legal system being abused to work out some wealthy family's constant battle for who leads it. 






NOVEMBER 30
LORD FAMILY SPOTTED IN VILLAGE
BY: BAXTER MURPHY, Editor

Rebecca Lord, her granddaughter-in-law Evangeline and their personal maid were spotted in The Village this afternoon on a walk-about entering shops and visiting local stores on a shopping outage. The family has been besieged by what some would call bad luck as Rebecca's son is convalescing from an assassination attack just one month ago, which occurred a year after the bizarre and alleged kidnapping of heir Sebastian Lord where an imposter was placed in his stead at his wedding and killed too; leading many to believe the real Sebastian had died.

It is no wonder the family is shadowed in suspicion of the occult and curses. How can anyone begin to piece together the oddities that surround this family? Usurpers? Assassination attempts? Stints in the Insane Asylum on the mainland? YES! That happened too, to the supposedly-dead Sebastian's young bride Evangeline. 

So, I wonder, as I sit here at my desk in The Village watching the women of the family walk around as if nothing has happened, if they even are aware of what we villagers think of them. Perhaps there is an idea of their lore outside the walls of their secluded mansion in the Tirymor Forest, and perhaps, to them, it is par for the course, a simple side-effect of being the richest and most influential family on the island, and in full-disclosure my own employer. 

Beware, dear subscriber and reader of this, THE WELSHPORT GLOBE, we will be watching this family for more because in this journalist's opinion there is much more to what is really happening at Tirymor than what meets the eye. If history is any source of proof, then we already know as citizens ourselves of this island, that the truth is just as good as any fable. Truth will be uncovered soon. I can guarantee that.










NOVEMBER 21,2022

Baxter Murphy
Introducing BAXTER MURPHY, the editor and chief of THE WELSHPORT GLOBE. He'll be taking over the NEWS section of
benightbeguile.com. His informative and sometimes intrusive measures will give you the inside scoop in all the strange and scandalous events that surrounds the foggy shorelines of Welshport Island. Baxter, who's employed by the Lord Publishing Company, has a way to work around the tightly wound grip the family has on reporting on issues that surround the family. Baxter will get you to the truth, and nothing but the truth. His first big event is questioning who exactly is to blame for the shooting death of the former Constable of the island and the attempted murder of Jacob Lord. But as any good reporter and editor knows, there always more to the story than meets the eye. Baxter is on the case! Watch this space for more from Baxter and his reports from the island of Welshport!










NOVEMBER 1, 2022 
BOOK 3 FALL PREVIEW
How will the rest of BOOK3 play out?  

  • Look out for Eliza and Rebecca coming face-to-face once more as the two old friends continue to be at odds over their past history. 
  • THE HUNTER, who's name is revealed in B3/Ch2, sets his sights on a particular member of the Lord Family
  • Jacob's recovery and the subsequent investigation into his shooting goes off the rails when GREGORY REIGNS lets his past interfere. 
  • ASHA HOFFMAN's connection to Dr. Andrew Kim goes deeper than employer/employee
  • Nik discoverers more than he bargained for in the Tirymor House Library
  • Evie begins to see a darker side of Sebastian that threatens more than just their relationship, but the very lives of the people she loves. 
PLUS MUCH MORE!
NEW CHAPTERS EVERY MONDAY THROUGH FALL 2022 and WINTER 2023!









OCTOBER 24, 2022

BOOK3 PREIERE CHAPTER HAS BEEN PUBLISHED!!! Click HERE and follow along as the Chapter Library has been updated with the new CHAPTER 1 button now open! 

BOOK3/CHAPTER1 Synopsis: 
Constable Gregory Reigns pores over the crime scene where Jacob Lord and Christian Evans were shot searching for any evidence; Filipe Braga has a terrible nightmare while Celeste makes a crucial decision about her family's dark secret; The Lord family learns of Jacob's fate; Sebastian and Evie reunite in a romantic setting; The shooter is revealed in a shocking twist!






OCTOBER 10, 2022

Chapter Log has been updated with Chapter count! COME BACK OCT 24th to begin BOOK 3!

Click HERE to visit the CHAPTERS section and catch up today!








OCTOBER 3, 2022

Book 3 of "TO BENIGHT & BEGUILE" will be published beginning MONDAY OCTOBER 24TH. Leading up to this day, the writer John-Phillip Bettencourt will be posting every day a rewind of previous chapters beginning with Book 1. Follow along at the official twitter page Linked here: TWITTER






Click HERE for Home Page







READER'S NOTICE
“To Benight & Beguile” is a Gothic Web-Serial written by John-Phillip Bettencourt based on original characters and stories. These stories are original by the writer and have no formal connection to any television series or any other material. Any similarities are purely coincidental. This project and the stories herein are meant for entertainment purposes only. No monetary gain has been acquired. Images of actors portrayed as characters are used for aesthetic and inspirational purposes only. I do not claim rights to own any of the photos nor do the actors in the images have any dealings with the story or the writer. 
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